The past two days have been the perfect picture of Autumn: crisp cold days, bright leaves swirling from treetops, and a perfect crunchy browness to the tall grasses waving in the wind. The weather has been the perfect antidote to any blues I must be experiencing, helping me to heal.
Yesterday, Jason took me on an early anniversary jaunt (we celebrate 5 years of marriage in four days!) to our old haunts from our courtin' days, including the church where we where married, and the Inn where we held the wedding reception. In fact, there was a couple getting married at the church where we'd gotten hitched. They had a MUCH larger audience at their nuptials (I personally much prefer our much small gathering, but to each their own) and their decorations were nothing compared to ours (if I do say so myself) ;). The steeple on the church had been painted, and the place looked spiffier than we'd been there last 5 years ago. I reckon the church realized that they might could make some money from that small little barely used chapel after we insisted on using it!
Leif, meanwhile, was on a grand trip with his grandparents to Pennsylvania for a nice scenic train ride and visit to the train museum there.
On the way back, we picked up a half bushel of oysters for the evening at home.
It was, all in all, a beautiful day.
This morning I woke up, and nearly as soon as my feet hit the floor, started cleaning. I haven't stopped for much since then. I packed away my maternity clothes (I hadn't started to wear them and they didn't fit me this time around anyway) and a bunch of Jason's excess winter and summer clothes. I went through receipts, paperwork, laundry, bathroom drawers; nary an inch in my living space was left untouched. I even decluttered, organized, and cleaned out all of my email accounts (no small feat there!) I decluttered like a madwoman (even though I'm essentially living out of a suitcase...so what can there be left to declutter? Apparently, plenty when you're a decluttering Momma in mourning.) I hauled Leif's toys in from boxes in the shed, realizing that if I left them out there the whole time, he'd outgrow them before he'd used them much at all (and that would just be storing stuff we don't use, which makes my decluttering heart shudder in disgust). I hauled out the clothes I had packed. I hauled in my own cleaning supplies (which, frankly, I'm lost without my own cleaning stuff!)
I suppose that cleaning the space around me is in sync with the emotional and physical cleansing taking place within me. Starting over, starting fresh, and all that jazz. Some people clean when they're angry (sadly, I'm not one of them)...apparently, I clean for a new beginning.
Even as I was doing all this, I was horrified by the amount of things we had with us (mostly in storage): toys, groceries, toiletries...just ridiculous amounts of stuff. And oddly, when it comes to toys, I'm a bit notorious for decluttering most everything, and so Leif doesn't have that much...but still! Ugh, the amount of STUFF makes the minimalist in me want to gag. (Also on the odd side: my minimalist self never turns on the books - we can never have enough books! If I get rid of any books, I trade them for yet more books!)
So, I've made lists in my head of the items we can use while we're here, so I know what I do not need to buy more of, and we can move with a far lighter load than with which we came. You have no idea how much this pleases me. Little by little, I am whittling away at our worldly possessions and I'm happier than a clam to do it.
So, that is where I've been: cleaning my world out and paving the way for a lovely future.
:)
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