Thursday, August 16, 2012

Continuing the effort to de-clutter my life, I spent a good portion of this evening in my garage.  Waiting till the outdoor temperature “cooled” to a lovely (not) 97 degrees, I scaled ladders, reached over items too big to move out of the way and sorted through storage tote after storage tote full of…stuff.  So what was in those totes?  My remaining supplies from when I had a craft business years back and also an impressive collection of Easter baskets, grass, plastic eggs and decorations to make the holiday more “festive.”

I wasn’t sure if sorting through the items would make me sad or what.  Was pleasantly surprised at the journey down memory lane I took as I opened certain containers to find old craft items I’d made.  Or Easter baskets I’d created for our kids when they were young. 

Sifting through the craft items, I recalled, with fond memories, the many rainy days and other times my children and their friends would flock round me, begging to open the storage containers of craft items.  I had enough stuff in those totes to create my own craft store!  So, for a kid, the possibilities were endless.

As I went through the many containers of Easter décor, I smiled, recalling the fun my children had while setting up Easter villages I’d hand crafted when they were younger.  Or how they’d lovingly placed ceramic Easter decorations wherever they wanted to help stir the festive mood of the holiday.

Knowing the containers would unlock memories, I’d somewhat hesitated to go through them.  Aware that I’d be doing so alone didn’t help matters.  But not being one to shy away from a task, I dug in.  To my surprise, I enjoyed the process of de-cluttering.  Loading eleven 33-gallon trash bags full of items to be donated gave me a warm-all-over feeling, for I knew that rather than continuing to sit in my garage, the items would now be made available to those who would put them to good use. 

Despite the scorching temperatures I endured during my de-cluttering the garage, the project ended on a positive note.  Why?  For one simple reason.  What could be better than taking a stroll down memory lane and then being able to share items with others?