Sunday, Sep 4, 2011

The Sunday Salon: My Labor During this Holiday Weekend

My garage is like one of those that you see on TLC… where you have hoarded things over the years and have a tough time getting rid of anything.  Based on the looming potential of losing my home to my lender (update: the legal case is dragging on forever), my family volunteered to pitch in and help me lighten my load.   If I have to move, the garage must be addressed. 

My family came over armed for bear with gloves and masks, my mother brought lunch and my brother brought beer.

Up into the rafters we went.  We yanked everything out, cleaned the garage, slimmed down my belongings, and put the remains (neatly labeled), back in.  We made a run to the dump and a trip to the Goodwill.  We filled up two 3-yard bins full of stuff.   I started at 8:30 in the morning and we were done by 4:30 in the afternoon.  Everybody was pooped. 

Emotionally, it was difficult for me to let go of the material items and sift through the memories.  But, it was necessary.  Since everything was dragged out into my front yard, people thought that I was having a yard sale.  They kept trying to make me offers on things.   It was very strange.  I mean… can’t you clean your garage without people thinking that it’s a garage sale?

There were some items that I just couldn’t part with… some of my children’s keepsakes from when they were babies, my doll collection from when I was a little girl, my first bible.  But, I did purge a lot of old boxes of files and tax returns.  We found copies of love letters sent to my grandmother before she met my grandfather.  Just imagine, finding letters from the 1920′s in your garage that you didn’t know about.  You see, the home I own used to be owned by my grandparents.  It’s a family home.  When I went inside the house at the end of the day, I found a closet door had been opened while we all were outside.  Hmm… was grandma upset that we read her letters aloud?

The end result is a clean and happy garage, where items are so well organized that I could choreograph a dance routine in there with my car parked inside.  It’s a welcome site.  But, it was a hard day.  I’m glad that it’s over with and that I don’t have to look back.

I have one more trip to take to the Goodwill.  Besides some laundry, no more labor for me this weekend.  It’s all about R&R for the remainder of the weekend.  Sleeping, eating, reading (*currently reading Molokai for an upcoming book review*) is all that is on my agenda.

All my best to you for a wonderful, labor-less, holiday weekend!

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