Today, the floor is more cluttered, but the closet is emptier. This is the room that has served as our staging area. This first happened ten years ago when we were gone for a year and rented out the house and used this room to store things we didn't want to leave out. Since then, this is the room we put things that we don't need elsewhere or just want to hide when people come over. I've had pictures of this room up before - use the label clutter war. But we're having someone move in with us for a year in February and so this room has to be habitable.
Some things are easy: boxes of stuff quickly thrown in here without too much review. I'm able to go through some boxes and get rid of most things - either trash or find a way to recycle. The Arc called and took stuff away this week already. But other things - like the 30 year old art work from my daughter I posted the other day - is more difficult.
And so is this:
My brother died in a work accident in August 1975 when my son was just a year old. I hadn't seen this letter for years. So this goes into one of the caches of letters from family and friends. This is not something people of the future will have to worry much about. Most everything today is electronic and searchable. But there is something about holding this envelope that Glen held, wrote on, with a stamp that he licked.
Oh, and today, December 20 would be his 61st birthday. Happy Birthday Glen, wherever you are. We've missed you terribly all these years.
By the way, here's a picture of this room cluttered and cleaned back in 2010.
As we say in our family, you have to make a mess to clean up a mess! I appreciate your post as I 'destuff' my home. The decision making part is never fun. FYI that I think Glen was sitting on your shoulder when you rediscovered his letter. Hope you're talking to him while you work. He'll help you sort it out!
ReplyDeleteI love your family saying. Thanks, I'll repeat it often. I try to clean things up rather than look for something that's missing. That way I get things done in my search even if I don't find the missing object. And I find other things I forgot I was looking for.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Glen's around.