On Unpacking & Sorting

Moving has a way of making you realize how much stuff you've been carrying around. We all have stuff. You know what I am talking about. Things have a way of piling up over the years. Gifts from family, hand-me-downs from friends and neighbors, things you picked out yourself and brought along for the journey--It's all there, with all it's weight and bulk, when you move.

Pardon blurry cell-phone picture.

Right now, our lives are cluttered with stuff. We are in the process of replacing the house's original flooring. We're taking the DIY route, and with no experience, felt it most wise to replace one room at a time. We went cheap, yet durable with a higher-quality laminate. The biggest downside to our method of floor installation is that we still haven't unpacked everything. We saw no point in setting up a room only to disassemble it again when the floors came out so I still have stacks of boxes.

I find myself sorting through our boxes, re-evaluating the necessity of two vegetable graters or the role of old photos. And I watch in amazement as I notice how carefully I have packed every belonging. Every item down to the soft or virtually unbreakable, is wrapped in multiple layers of newspaper to cushion. Just in case. Even the things to which I ascribe virtually no value are specially guarded against any unforeseen crisis.

I wonder how many things I've "packed" along the way, with painstaking protection to what end? I'm unpacking more and more each day, and I suddenly realize my life is filled with things I have no business carrying around any more, let alone protecting. Catharsis anyone?