STUFF and Comfortable
What do you do when given a life changing turn? Besides marriage and having my children I am currently going through a rebirth of my adult life. My husband got an amazing position in Pennsylvania and we are moving. The moment it all hit me was when I realized the large amounts of STUFF we have. I also was amazed at how stagnant we allowed our life to become.
As I am packing and downsizing it's evident how much STUFF there is. Boxes of things I haven't used or seen in years. Books I haven't touched in over 5 years. Let's not even talk about the variety of clothes in my closet, " just in case" I lose or gain weight. Things that seemed so important and so vital at the time of purchase, covered in dust under the bed. It amazes me the amount of energy I put into my stuff. I work hard to get the stuff, I wear the stuff, and I sometimes use the stuff. Does this STUFF=Survival? NO Does STUFF=LOVE? No Relationships? NO
Moving has actually put a valuation on all this "stuff". $3.30/cubic square foot to be exact. As the household "Mrs. Crabs" namesake lovingly given to me by my kids, this idea of spending to move stuff has taken given me a whole new view of what I actually "need".
This stuff has lots of emotions attached, plus the act of sorting and deciding what stays and what goes. All the things serve as reminders of what we have built here. As a whole we are going through the gambit of emotions, especially walking an 8 and 10 year old through this process of moving. My daughter probably has the most STUFF of us all.
The surprising emotions were the phases of shock and grief. Of course, we were excited and anxious to have a new start. But, throwing out the stuff reminds me of all we are leaving behind. The friends and the family who will be not easily accessible anymore. The amazing teachers and coaches who have poured into the lives of my children. The In-n-outs and Del Tacos. :) No longer will it be the same. We won't be going to the same places, wearing the same clothes, and seeing the same people. Thanks to technology and amazing family and friends, especially my parents and grandparents, this will be a pretty easy portion of the transition. I passed the weeks of "what we are missing" and moved into "what's in store for us". It will be amazing to see what new life and new people we can surround ourselves with in Pennsylvania. While still staying in touch with all the amazing people we have built into our life.
We have built an amazing life and we were quite comfortable in it. With kids you set a schedule and you tend to not want to deviate. It's easy to say yes or no to commitments as you know where your going to be today, tomorrow, and next week. However, when we got that email of an offer, the schedule was thrown into the air. So, as I figure out what the new life will look like, I am picking up what we have left. The excitement of what's to come is breathing a whole new breath into what our family makeup has become.
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