Recently we had a flood in our basement forcing us to have to clear it out. I watched as my husband Dave with the help of our neighbor, begin to bring things out to the front lawn for a bulk pick up. Our old dinning room set, boxes of children’s toys, old television sets, and my grandmother’s kitchen chairs to name a few of the many items.
As we made our way through the boxes we kept saying, “why did we keep all of this stuff, what were we thinking”?
What I have learned is, it is very difficult to let go of things, and so we hold on to them. I feel it is a process, first we remove them from our living area, boxed, crated and or bagged to be stored in our attic, and or basement. Fast forward thirty plus years, and now you find you are ready to let go.
When the bulk pickup did not come, others did. It was difficult to pass by the pile 3 or 4 times a day and not bring something back into our home. One day I watched from my window, a women taking one of my grandmother’s chairs. Once she left I ran out to the one remaining chair to take back. As I looked it over I remembered that I had one in my office which I used often, and left the chair on my lawn.
This process of letting go has been very healing for Dave and I, a new chapter in our lives. Maybe this is why they call it the empty nest, not only have we launched our children, but we are also letting go of all the stuff we have accumulating during the child rearing years. We have come full circle, and we are back to where we began, just the two of us with a very empty basement and a soon to be empty attic.
So on to cleaning out the attic!