Almost There

What a weekend! We sold or gave away 100% of our furniture. While we made huge progress, there's still a lot to be done. We'll have a garage sale on Saturday to get rid of everything else, and donate what's left over on Sunday. My back is sore but I'm invigorated.

You never know how much you have until you try to get rid of it. That's no exaggeration. The more we sold the more there seemed to be.

Some really interesting people came through our house. One was a student who was entering the University of Washington and was furnishing her dorm room. This, after spending a year studying in London. I spoke with the mother who told me she home schooled her kids because they were all dancers who performed all over the world and, therefore, couldn't attend traditional school.

I met a woman who used to live across the street in the home of the man who was the developer for the houses directly across from us. She now lives a few blocks away across the street from a park where I used to take my grandson. She came over so many times and bought so much furniture that I feel like we're now best friends.

One neighbor bought the karaoke equipment. We're hoping to get an invitation as soon as it's all plugged in. We told her, upon taking her money, that the set comes with a guy named Brian. All they have to do is start singing "Sweet Caroline" to conjure him up. (We don't know how that happens but it always did.)

Everything in the house seemed to have a story and each time someone walked out with an item, I recalled the memories that went with them. I was glad to know someone else would get to enjoy something that had made me happy over the years and was grateful. Even though we worked at a frantic pace over the two days, there was a real sense of peace when it was all over.

I would do it again but I hope I won't have to. Getting rid of all your stuff is liberating. Freeing up your space gives you more room to love the stuff you have. The key is to purge until you feel good in the space that's left over. And then to keep it that way.