Everything!

I didn’t really grasp the meaning of  “everything”. When I said I was selling everything I owned and moving to Sweden, of course, I considered selling or giving away the furniture, my computers and my beloved shoes and handbags. I thought about pots and pans, crystal and china, but what I didn’t count on are the seemingly thousands of inconsequential items that make up a person’s life. In some ways parting with these items can be so liberating and in other ways it’s like separating from one’s own personal history.

I had a formula in place for the sorting and tossing of all the crap I’ve collected over the years. There were only two questions involved: 1. Will I pack it? 2. Will I sell it? Everything else would fall into the “toss it out” category. Ahhh, but I found it’s not quite as simple as that.

Everything really means everything and includes such items as pens, favorite magazine issues, trinkets from far away lands, half full bottles of shampoo (I hate to be wasteful), perfume, linens, picture frames, and bits of jewelry from when I was a kid. There is that candle stick holder I bought with my best friend at the flea market on that wonderful summer morning and there are the funny little illustrations that my sons made me. What do I do with the birthday cards they so proudly presented me when they were learning to read and write? And what do I do with Bear, the well-loved stuffed animal from Kyler’s childhood? Some things just defy classification and parting with everything is not quite as clear cut as it sounds.