Releasing Old Ties

Not neckties. The ties that bind, that keep us anchored. 

Thought there's a few neckties that need to go too...  

I moved a lot in grad school, and several times in the first few years afterwards. Each time, I just packed everything up with the goal of getting it out of the apartment, with the plan to sort and purge later.  When I bought my first home, my current one, I trundled a huge amount of boxes up to the garage, grateful to have space and time to finally cull my belongings.  

Well, it's been 13 years, and the only ones getting into the boxes are the mice.  So mentally, emotionally, the Big Purge is coming. It's already begun, in that I'm releasing excess weight. So last weekend, I found 7 boxes of old clothing, having kept my favorites.  Mice destroyed some pieces, but most of it was completely untouched.  I love retro styles, so am eager to wear some of it, and will donate others.  

I've always thought that purging belongings required discipline, commitment, and courage.  Reading Marie Kondo's "the life-changing magic of tidying up" has significantly eased the intimidation.  

One tiny bit of hesitation over moving out:  the fish in the pond.  Won't have a pond built yet at the lakehouse -- what if the new owners don't want fish?  What if I need to fill in the pond in order to easily sell the house?  Well, a heron removed that hesitation: suddenly every fish is gone! I was shocked! Not that it couldn't happen, just that it did. I feel badly for the fish -- the original batch of four had been in there for 6 years, and there were six babies 3 or 4 years old. Ten fish suddenly gone! Raccoons can't get in the deer fencing, so it must have been a heron.  

I bet it was last Friday, when the cats were fully occupied with a blue jay in the house...  (The bird survived.)  

Funny how the universe is helping me get fully aligned with letting the move happen easily...