Uncovered Objects

Today, I spent about six hours working on the cleanout of the two back rooms here at the house.  Mom came and helped me, and we dug in to the small room.  It was the worst off, and I had a new set of huge shelves to help take care of the problem.

I had to sit down and go through box after box of miscellaneous crap that had accumulated.  I found items going all the way back to my undergrad, old course catalogs, papers from grad school, and the millions of tiny objects that get swept into boxes rapidly and without thought when somebody moves.  So much of it was just stuff to throw away.  Who needs instructions for the voicemail system at my old university some 16 years after the fact?

Other items, though, made me stop and smile.  I uncovered several things I thought were lost today, things I'd made, things I'd been given.  I found old poetry, old diaries.  Resources I'd been looking for emerged.

Then there were the things that made me sad.  Much of what was there was stuff of my grandparents that has been sitting since I moved here, things I had either no time or no interest in hand sorting.  Today, I went through lots of that, and just seeing my grandmother's careful notetaking and writing in old files made me miss her.  Piles of things about me and my cousin that she'd saved to scrapbook made me smile.  I could see her clipping, copying, preparing to preserve those events for us.  Finding the copper bracelet and old road atlas that were my grandfather's brought back memories of him in his overalls, reading anything he could get his hands on, coming in at the end of the day in whatever incarnation of banged-up tan Chevy truck he happened to be driving from whichever of the pieces of land he'd been on.

There were also pictures and artifacts of people I don't see anymore, including D. and T.  I haven't even seen their faces in a long time, and unfolding a sheet of paper with a poem (that was crap) written on it and them hiding out inside was the sort of nostalgia I could do without.  I don't miss them; I just felt sort of mildly distasteful that I had ever written such drivel.  At least the drivel I write now is of a different kind...

So much of what I sorted was just junk, things I neither need nor want.  Massive amounts of it are going to the Salvation Army.  My little car is already crammed full, and there is at least one more day of work before both rooms are complete.  The trash bags are piling up.  The trash guys are probably going to boycott me when I finally get everything down to the road on pickup day.

Even though there is still a huge mess in the big room, the little room is actually quiet, clean, and useful now.  It's amazing to be able to walk in and see all my decorations and stuff for different events neatly binned and on the shelves.  It's a relief to know that if I need a giftbag and some tissue paper for a present, I can actually get to it without feats of gymnastic prowess.  I am looking forward to the end of this process when both rooms are something that I can be proud of again instead of praying nobody but the exterminator has to go in them for any reason.

And when they're done it will be time to move out into the rest of the house.  Pinterest and my own start at purging are inspiring me.  By the time I go back to school, I'd like my house to be as free of non-essential and unused items as I can get it.  It feels good to "simplify, simplify," just as good old Thoreau said.

Despite the heat and the tedium of the work, I am very satisfied with what we accomplished today.  I cooked supper for the family, and the simple peaceful action was refreshing in its way.  I hope that I feel the same tomorrow, tired but happy with the new environment I am creating for myself.