Bittersweet Memories

Today it was an eye opener to unpack a box that has been in storage for 14 years. So many bittersweet memories. Photos from before the divorce. Photos of pets no longer with us. Photos of pets I don't even remember having. When did we have a rabbit named Daffodil? Maybe it was a friend's rabbit.  Lots of news clippings and advertisements from when I worked as a psychic, a belly dancer, and other things.  Photos of a Renaissance Faire I danced at. Where did the life go that I once had?


Lots of mail art, both received and meant to be sent. Letters to a guy that broke my heart. Tons of jewelry from my dancing days. Stickers and stationary and old make-up. A letter from an old friend who has the same name as my grandson. Goals realized and unrealized.

People wonder why I don't go through all my boxes and get things squared away.  I don't go through them because it's heart wrenching. I still feel angry and hurt when my boyfriend's Mom said, "We'll just send Dick over there (her husband). He'll throw everything away." How callous. No one but me can decide what is important to me and worth saving. Would he even know what to do with a tarot deck? Would he know which photos were of my child's first steps or their 5th birthday party? Would he know a valuable piece of jewelry from a sentimental one and which one had more value? He's got Alzheimer's. He barely even knows where he lives so it was asinine for her to suggest sending him over. And why is she so concerned with my stuff? Hasn't she got enough to worry about taking care of him 24/7. I'm not married and I don't need a nagging mother-in-law.

A mermaid ring I found in storage.

Postoids from a long ago mail art project.

Moving On

Halfway point

Empty finally, after 3 trips.

In an effort to save money (and who doesn't want to do that), we finally got everything out of a storage unit that has been stuck there for 16 years because we've had no where else to put it. I finally found my Gocco Printer, my manual typewriter, my upright loom and my collection of rubber stamps. I found things that made me sad, like all the stuff from my office in San Luis Obispo, CA before my divorce. I found things that made me happy, like the first stuffed elephant I ever crocheted, which I made for my new baby in 1982, which I can now wash and fluff up and re-gift to my grandson. Just in time too, because he will soon have a baby sister, and I don't want him to feel left out when the new baby gets all the attention. But after two days of driving to Orange County and back from the Mojave desert, I am happy to be home again. What a long day!

A Dreary Day of Moving Boxes

I spent most of today as a passenger so we could go clean out our storage unit in Westminster CA. I wish we had just rented a truck because not much fit in our pick-up and now we’ll have to go back 2 or 3 more times. I’d rather have done the whole thing in one day. It takes an entire day to make the trip, whether we get 20 boxes or all of them. The good part of the day was I got to knit for about 4 hours and I found my loom and my manual typewriter in storage, so I’ll get to use those again finally. They’ve been in there 16 years. We had no room for them in the apartment, and now we have no more room for them in the new home, but we can’t afford storage anymore, especially storage that is 150 miles away. Don’t ask me what we are going to do with this stuff when we get it to our new home. And it’s raining today so we can’t even unpack the truck.