I should be packing. Instead I’m drinking my coffee enjoying my morning after sleeping in with Em. She’s still asleep by the way and its 9:30 am! She had her 6 month appointment yesterday which also means shots, so I’m letting the poor baby sleep. Luckily she has done pretty well with all her shots so far. Apparently the earthquake didn’t wake her earlier….yes i said EARTHQUAKE! I was in bed alone (hubby went golfing early) and I felt my bed shaking and got completely freaked out. Apparently I’ve watched way too many scary movies because the first thing I thought about was a ghost. I was literally laying there trying to figure out if I’d lost my damn mind! I kept thinking if I tell my husband about this, that i felt my bed shaking, he’s going to think I sound crazy. I ended up falling back asleep and waking up to a text from my mother about the earthquake. I wasn’t sure which I was happier about: the fact that I wasn’t crazy OR that it was indeed NOT a ghost shaking my bed…
Anyways back to packing. We started the whole process of house selling in May. We started getting the house ready which means packing up a bunch of stuff so that your house shows better etc. I was sitting in the kitchen this morning trying to think of what in the world we packed away and I honestly couldn’t tell you. We have seen so many houses and I always question the kitchen being big enough and having enough cabinets. I started packing away what was left in my kitchen and I realized I had SO much crap! SO many things I don’t use, stuff to be thrown away that were worn out, duplicates, just way too much stuff. And this was all after I had packed away a bunch of stuff already. I also realized I had moved stuff from place to place for years that I didn’t need. I have thrown away, sold, or donated so much stuff it’s been a RELIEF. If I don’t miss it, I obviously have too much or don’t need it.
We had to pack away a LOT of our stuff in July. That is another whole story in itself but the point is we have lived without a lot of our stuff for awhile. I was really upset to pack away so much, especially when it came to Emmy’s room. But after some time you get used to it and it really isn’t the end of the world. You really start to think about how lucky you are because there are a lot of people who live with so little and not by choice. I mean do we REALLY need so much stuff??
This brings me back to when I lived in Spain. I studied abroad for almost 4 months and lived in a tiny room that I shared with someone else. I wore the same clothes over and over again, no baths, had to turn the water off in the shower when we were shampooing or soaping up then turn it back on to rinse, no clothes dryer so my clothes were always stiff, no Walmart or stores or drive thrus open 247, and no heat except from a little stand up unit so I often slept in a hat, gloves and scarf when it got colder…just pretty different from how I was used to living. But you always learn to adapt and get used to things! When I got back to the US it was so weird having all this stuff available to me again. I had learned to live with so little (what I was able to pack in my suitcases). But when I think about my study abroad experience I don’t really think about that stuff. I think about how much I LOVED it. I think about all the fun I had and all the stuff I got to do and see and how much I loved the culture and how much I wanted to stay for another semester. I would do it all over again and with even less stuff.
I can’t wait to simplify in a new house. So….new house, less clutter…..simpler living. Now everyone go clean out your closets!
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