Down to the Foundations

In part due to my upcoming (fingers crossed that it is actually going to become reality) adventure. My sojourn to Hanoi this fall to learn how to teach English to adults who speak other languages.

In part due to the accumulation of a lifetime that needs deaccession as they are all works of art in my over-active mind.

In part due to the fact that I am running out of storage space and need to trim down. Lighten up.

I am (da da' ... drum roll) clearing out my basement, my garage, my closets, my cabinets and drawers.

Much to the delight of Goodwill. Ruth's Reusable Resources. eBay. And, my own sense of pared down self.

So it has been with trepidation at first that I began to make a pile on the work bench in the basement. An empty laundry basket now holds Lucite pitchers, trays and salad bowls from the swimming pool I had decades ago. It is also packed with twin night lights the size of doll furniture that I never placed in a room but love the faux MacKenzie Childs shades, unused still in its original wrapping under rug runner the rubber non-slide kind and two tackle boxes filled with yet unused fly fishing lures, pincers and string from my dog-eared attempt to be a mommy-daddy teaching Charlie to fish in the blood red Oklahoma rivers that ironically need to be mowed in the summer. Add to the pile a fold-up dog crate never used. A Pfaff sewing machine still stapled into the carton. And an IBM Selectric 3 typewriter with the font on the ball ... and I cannot type more than 15 words a minute most illegible and incorrect.

I know. I know. There is so much more to be added. Two wooden and wicker bed trays for lazy weekend breakfasts in bed. Nope. Never happened. Never will. A wire coated shelf that was not needed in the study closet complete with fittings and screws. Two cordless phones. One ceramic bowl, no chips, for chips. And the piece de resistance? A green wire bird cage. For what decorating scheme I do not remember.

It all goes. And that is for the tag sale. I still have oodles of vintage purses and unworn shoes and an Armani pant suit from the 1990s that will find their way onto eBay.

And there's more. I am getting in the swing of this. Nothing is safe. Especially with Charlie moving to Hong Kong to begin his career. OMG. His room is chock-a-block with unnecessary. I'll have him join me on this adventure to lighten up before he departs at the end of the summer.

Until then ... I am going to think about it a bit longer. Right here on this lovely overstuffed sofa. Cheers!