Where Do We Go From Here?

Last night was one of the jolted-awake-at-3-am-by-total-fear nights. Our deadline for moving out of this house is August 15th, and it is now July.  Where on earth are we going to go?  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find short-term rentals (I'm talking like a one month rental) when there are six of you, plus a dog?  Who on earth is going to rent to us for only a month, especially when they catch a glimpse of the four kids and the dog?  Hotels are too expensive, and what would we do with the dog anyway?  And really, what are we supposed to do with all our STUFF?

I don't feel as though I am especially materialistic (although I could be wrong).  Owning lots of things has never been my goal.  And yet...we have So. Much. STUFF!  Where did it all come from?  Why is it all hiding in my attic?  Didn't we just have a yard sale?  Do we really NEED all this?

No.  We don't.  Of course we don't.  So we will pare down, weed out the junk, throw away the past.  Not all of it, but a good portion of it.  It is good to do this, to muddle through everything one owns, to decide what's really important.  It feels good to know that the things we will be bringing with us to the new house will be the things we really care about, things that have meaning to us.  But without fear to motivate us, I doubt we would ever have taken on this task.  Sorting through an entire house worth of stuff is beyond daunting - it is monumentally stressful.  It is ridiculously time consuming.  It presents one with an overwhelming amount of decision-making opportunities.

So here we are, on a lovely holiday weekend, cleaning out the attic.  Some stuff got boxed up (photo albums, of course, and books...more books than we need or will ever read again).  A lot of stuff got taken to Goodwill.  Some stuff got thrown away or recycled.  And there is more.  A whole lot more, and a month left to get it all sorted, boxed, stored or dumped.  But in this out-of-control summer, where we feel at the mercy of the Real Estate Gods, getting our belongings in order brings us a small but comforting measure of control.