Snippets, forty-four

Here are some short pieces based on things that have happened in my life recently. 

The Gifts are...Somewhere?

I hate moving so much that towards the end of the process, I just threw things into bags or boxes as they fit, which room they'd come from or which room they'd go to be damned.

However, this means that some things are still to be uncovered.

And I don't know if this is the case for you, but I have about one billion loved ones with September birthdays (okay, 11 but that IS a lot!). So, I have quite a few birthday presents that I know I've bought (not only do I remember buying them, but I have a spreadsheet recording what I've bought), but have not retrieved from the various piles yet.

I don't have a ton more boxes and bags to go through, so I'm confident I can find them tomorrow morning or afternoon (before I head to a joint birthday party in the evening) and then wrap and label them.

Moving forward, I hope to get more organized under-bed storage to keep better track of such things.

I swear though, they're here somewhere!

To Keep or Not to Keep

As many of you probably know I love to write mail and to receive it when folks have the time and inclination. I have saved tons of letters, cards, and notes over the years and I don't really want to get rid of them. But when I ask myself if I'll look at them again, the truth is that I'm not sure.

It is unlikely that I'll ever go through ever message someone has penned me, but it feels too sad to rid myself of those potential future rememberings.

Somewhere in these stacks is a letter where a friend came out to me, kind notes after I lost my father, and countless fond wishes wished me (some from loved ones who are no longer here). While I have likely forgotten the significance of many of the items of mail I've collected, I would actually have to review every one to see what still holds enough meaning for me to keep and then that feels like I'd be judging how well folks had written or whom I wanted to still remember--and that doesn't feel good.

So, for now, my plan is to keep them all.

In the future, perhaps I will look through the boxes bit by bit and remember warm memories bit by bit and decide what to recycle bit by bit.

For now, I will just pack them away with neat kindnesses for all of those who have ever written to me.

Truly, I do love getting personal mail.

To quote the comic artist who goes by Lunar Baboon: "I know this letter will do nothing. I know it cannot fix or cure what you are going through. It's just words on paper...but maybe it will remind you that I am still here, and so are you."

Worse, Then Better

Unpacking is taking longer than I remember unpacking taking.

I swear, I think I was done in a day and half after my last move. I suppose I had less stuff that time, but is it SO much more than I had like three years ago?

It sure feels like it.

I will say that a relief to me is that my condo has storage (although I do still have to locate and measure it). So, somethings like my Christmas decorations don't have to hang out in my livable space all year. But, this storage option means I do have to decide what goes to storage and what stays in my condo.

Additionally, I have some things to donate and some things to sell. I have a few tables I no longer want that I plan to try and foist off on my neighborhood's Buy Nothing group, but (from my dad's storage unit) I also have a good amount of silver silverware, comic books, old books, and stamps (dear God, the number of stamps).

I have mostly figured out what I'm keeping upstairs, what I'm putting in storage downstairs, what I'm giving away, and what I'm going to attempt to sell (where is another question for another time).

I keep telling myself that my condo only looks worse because it has to before it gets better.

I hope I'm right.

(Prompt by Kimisha Cassidy)

Photo by Jutta Elisabeth on Unsplash