I read a line that really stuck with me today, the gist of it being how we all have a tendency to hold onto things we should let go of, and let go of things we should keep close…
Maybe this struck a chord because I have begun the annual heartrending process of decorating for Christmas… First thing Sunday morning, I asked John to haul down the boxes of ornaments and trinket bags from their exile to the farthest corners of the attic, only to ignore them for the rest of the day. And the next one. I just couldn’t make myself get started; I didn’t want to face the painful memories waiting inside of those containers…
Except the decorations weren’t going to unpack themselves. For two days, neither John nor the girls gave the waist-high stack a passing glance, so I figured (rightly) it was going to be up to me…
In order to finish something, you actually have to start…
So I pulled the lid off the nearest bucket and had to chuckle. The sole contents: a black adult-sized Coleman sleeping bag we gave Beth for Christmas fifteen years ago. That particular year, John and I had the brilliant idea to give each of our kids their own personal sleeping bag; hers was the lone survivor. She moved it between closets, then houses, then from under her bed to her closet again, eventually shoving it into this tub to stow in the attic when the ‘for sale’ sign went in yard last year.
Has she ever used it? No. Will she? Probably not. So why are we hanging on to it? Because someday she might…
I moved to the next box… Carefully nestled in a yellowed tissue paper blanket was a pair of construction paper gingerbread men, handcrafted by Brian and Grace in elementary school. Both were wrinkled and creased, with more than a couple of tears along the edges.
Have we hung them on our tree since we moved here? No. Could they withstand another round? Probably. Am I going to do it? I’m not sure…
I barely scratched the surface; two boxes in and I had to stop…it was too much to handle on my own on a cold, rainy afternoon.
My plan had been to get rid of the older ornaments and knick-knacks we hadn’t used in years, but it wasn’t going so well... All of that ‘stuff’ kept reminding me of things I’d forgotten about.
It’s hard to put a time limit on memories…
I think it’s going to take a bit longer to let some of these well-loved objects go…
Wishing you many blessings and hope…tg
Tammy will update her blog twice weekly…
