The Sunshine State

I am in a state of organization right now. It's May! We are cleaning out all of the old books, clothes and dried up markers. We have so much excess that we are choking. A couple of weeks ago we sacked up five trash bags full of toys. And guess what- we STILL have too many. I have noticed that everything is replaceable. We can get rid of coffee mugs and 6 months later our cabinets are completely full again. Clothes are the worst. No matter how many clothes we give away there always seems to be more than we have room to store. Some of this is because we have four girls so the hand-me-down scene can get to be pretty consuming.
I decided, after much deliberation, to convert the study into a school room. I have drug my feet on this for quite a while. We have made it fine in the past doing school at the kitchen table. Now, however, with both of the older girls using real text and hard resources, we have no choice. Everything needs to be in one location...and that one location is not all over my house. So, we were really excited when we found desk at a local thrift store. We threw them in the truck, came home and the re-vamp began. It has been a painful process. The big girls, who are finished with school for the year, were wishing they had some Math or English to complete. It was rough. We had to move a ton of Greg's books up to the upper levels of the bookshelves, move a bed out of there and of course all of the trash that seems to hide in a room when the furniture has not been moved for 3 years. After this accomplishment- that I must say they did a great job helping with- we started on flipping the older girl's room to the younger girl's room and vice verse. I am glad that I included them in this process because the older they get they seem to appreciate my efforts more when they partake in the difficulty of the task. :) So, needless to say, there are still little piles everywhere. There are batteries, spools of thread, a flip-flop...it's like they've formed this little refugee camp in my hall. They have no place to call home and they're just hanging out...together.
All of this has caused me to feel unsettled. Now, I know, because I payed a lot of money for my Counseling degree, that I do not have to justify why I feel what I feel. But because I never underwent formal counseling, I will explain.
Pulling things out of their "place" and relocating other "things" to make new spots for old stuff causes me to have to make decisions and ask questions. "How much do I have invested in ________________ ? If _____________ means a lot to me then I keep _________________. But in most scenarios I find that most of what I have surrounded myself with is void of any investment. It's just nothing...taking up space....and cluttering my world. That's ____________ depressing. That really causes me to have to take a hard look at what I let enter into my space and consume my time...and believe me- managing stuff can consume ones time. Don't get me wrong...I'm not a hoarder. I'm just a normal Claire Huxtable, June Cleaver, Rosanne, with a house full of kids and a dog. Trying to manage stuff is basically my job. "Where are my shoes?" "Have you seen the keys?" "What happened to all of the pencils?" "Who has my toothbrush?" Saying goodbye to clutter is like an autopsy. "Let's see what we did in the month of April'09? What did we eat, what receipts are we saving from clothes and other junk that were purchased? Where did all of our time get spent?"
I think that it is so beneficial to manage your family & resources well. Most of my kiddos bad habits can be traced back to me. I want them to be able to let go of things that don't really matter in life. However, when I am gripping at them about all of the junk that is laying on their floor- i really do have to take a look at my space!
This week two friends of mine lost their mom to cancer. She had grown up in this town and everyone knew her. For some reason she thought that when she died it would go fairly unnoticed. She had joked with one of her daughters about that. However, the opposite was true. Many came to share their grief with others who expressed the same sentiments. When I called the florist to have an arrangement made the sweet lady said, "She was my husband's first crush when he was 14 years old." History. Lives lived around the same people for decades. Time not wasted on meaningless stuff.
Digging out of the clutter, removing excess baggage, simple living... is like heading to the beach the day after school lets out. I remember the summer after my senior year, I had a little jeep that I loved. In May, right before it gets too hot, the weather is perfect outside. With the top off of a jeep you can experience, truly, one of the most enjoyable rides of your life. Seriously, the evening air is great, the stereo doesn't have to be loud to hear it, but if it is people excuse it because "you're in a jeep." There is one thing that you never, ever, forget when you are driving any type of convertible: you cannot have stuff laying around that is going to fly out. Put it up or throw it away -but it cannot stay on the seat.
As I drive toward the beach, I want to get rid of unused, unimportant, things. Why? So that I have time to invest in real things- people, relationships, activities that produce stronger relationships. The less time I spend managing the excess- the more time I make for myself & others. The less activities, busy work & shuttling to and fro that I do, the more time i have to engage, listen and discuss. I want to live in a calmer state. I know that sounds ridiculous at this stage in my life. It's true, however. I want to live live like I'm leaving for the summer...take out the trash, give the milk & eggs to the neighbor, have a change of clothes and don't forget your bathing suit.