Due Date: December 11, 2010

Back in April I set out to complete 6 tasks to make room in my life for a husband...literally to make room since I have so much stuff! To date, it seems as though I've only completed one measly task. The reality of all I have collected and have stored here there and everywhere hit me shortly after June 14 when Paul proposed to me. I'm really going to be a wife and I'm really going to have no where to put all my stuff (for those who don't know, Paul currently resides in a very small studio apartment which fits all of his stuff just fine - I think he's saved half a closet for me).

Since June I've gotten rid of many of my childhood toys through a combination of garage sales and donations. Essentially I made a pile, put it with the garage sale stuff and told my mom "I don't want to know what happens to it, just do something because I can't bring myself to toss it" Having a garage sale cleared out a few of my boxes in the attic (which I'd forgotten about) and half of my boxes in the top of my closet. Whoo hoo...small progress.

Most recently I spent 3-4 hours clearing out letters I'd kept from junior high and high school. It wasn't good enough for me just to toss all the intricately folded letters from friends, lovers, and petty fighters. No, I found myself having to open each of them one by one and at least give them a glance over. Towards the fourth hour, tired of reading so much middle school drama, I grabbed a handful of letters and put them in the trash pile only to pick them out 10 minutes later thinking to myself that there might be something good in one of them (for the record, there really wasn't anything good). One whole box gone...cleared out of my life forever.

For years I've also been holding on to various furniture items that I thought would furnish the house I would eventually move in. By years I mean 10 years ago I thought at my age I'd be furnishing a house. Reality is hitting, however, that trucking furniture all the way to a crowded studio apartment in Seattle is probably not worth it, especially since Paul and I have no idea what our living situation will be come May when his lease is up. In fact, in our most recent conversations have moved towards exploring the possibility of doing Peace Corps in China for the next two years, meaning the more stuff I decide to keep now, the more stuff next May we'll have to decide to store, toss, or sell. My mom's convinced me to sell the two dressers and desks I've put a reserve on for the past 10 years. Next to go will probably be my Ikea desk which in no way will be able to fit into any sized apartment.

To reach the desk, though, I have to clear it off. To clear it off I have to get to it. To get to it I have to move my desk chair hidden beneath a pile of binders and behind piles of plastic boxes waiting to be filled and moved out of the house, and when I think of packing the boxes I think of the huge task ahead of me which I have to go alone, so I turn around, close the door and vow to tackle it at a later date.

It kind of feels like that book "When You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

But I have a due date now, so hopefully between wedding planning, Paul's visits with empty suitcases (ready to fill with absolutely keep stuff), work, and a world missions course I'm taking, it'll get tackled. Little by little.

Honestly, if there's anyone out there who wants to sit in my room for a day and opt to take a bunch of my stuff, act like you'll use it, and then toss it when I'm not looking, I'd be grateful. Perhaps I can convince my sisters to do this!