Re-Orienting Myself

 

 This past weekend, I had breakfast with a dear (and very wise) friend I've known since junior high. I expressed to her that since the estate sale, I feel like I've lost my bearings.  No longer can I go to my childhood home and be surrounded by the comfort of familiar things. I've lost my foundation. It has been disorienting, to say the least.

My wise friend believes I am in the process of creating a new foundation for myself in our own home, using the familiar items I decided to keep. Her observation really rang true to me. That is exactly what I am doing, although I am truly just getting started.

This re-orienting process is going to take a lot of time, because 1) I don't have room for everything without getting rid of some things first, and 2) I'll need to decide whether to store or (how and where to) display the items I kept.

 This is a look at just some of the things I brought home, many of which are currently sitting in our basement area. There are many more assorted things stashed in our garage and other places in the house. Each box is filled with unrelated items (dishes, books, knickknacks) so each must be unpacked and the contents re-sorted by category so that I can figure out what to do with them. All of this clutter makes me feel very unsettled.

 

 My dear mother would be having an absolute FIT right now. "Don't clutter up your house with all of this crap, Jan!" I can hear her saying. "Well, it's not CRAP to me, Mom!" I would tell her. :)

  What to do when faced with a daunting task like this? Start with one thing at a time. I decided to begin by clearing out my kitchen cupboards to make room for the dishes and glassware I brought home. I've added wire shelves to create more capacity within some cupboards.

 I have been evaluating, paring down, and re-organizing the contents of each cupboard as I go. For example, I had vases stashed in two different cupboards as well as a third place in the basement. I use my vases a lot so decided to bring them all up from the dusty basement shelf and pare them down to fit on one shelf, keeping just one of each style. I donated lots of vases to make room for the new ones I brought home with me.

 I found clear stacking boxes at Bed, Bath, and Beyond which allowed me to stack the short bud vases. Now they're all on one shelf at eye level where I can reach them easily. The green vases were part of my mom's green glass collection.

 

 I have a long way to go, but it's a start. Sure, it may look like I'm just re-organizing my cupboards. But it's more than that. I am slowly creating a new foundation for myself.

jp