New Beginnings – Packing up everything

It’s been an intense couple of days! We have been packing our life into boxes and bags, sorting out all of our paperwork and eating lots of delicious food with special people. It’s been a bit emotional but mostly exciting!

Our possessions went through a strict selection process…well, we tried to be strict. Its not that easy though. I’ve realized how attached we as people can get to material objects. We had to decide: do we try to sell it? Do we give it away or throw it away? Or, do we store it? Luckily for us, Lionel and Carol said we could store stuff at their place.

Even though we had enough storage space available to us, when we did decide that something should be stored, we had to ask ourselves: is this thing really worth keeping in a box to be opened again at a later stage? Do we like it and want it that much? We must remember it’s time for new beginnings!

It makes it easier for me to get rid of something if I know someone else will use it. There is that saying: “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
Taking a photo of something sentimental before giving it away can also help to let it go.

Our house is now completely empty. We slept on a mattrass in the lounge for 3 nights which was actually quite fun- like going camping in our own house. When our friends came to visit they had to sit on the mattrass or on the ground. They didn’t complain, at least not out loud. The last evening before we left Bloem, Henry and Bianca even bought their own coffee mugs and milk. At least we still had a kettle. (Thanks for the milk, guys!)

Marc has been living in that house for 8 years! It’s also been my home for a few. Between the two of us we managed to accumulate quite a lot of things. Many of the things we hardly ever used. Although we got rid of many things, there are some things that made it to the storage boxes….that shouldn’t have really qualified…our selection process obviously was not strict enough.

My Mazda2, ol’ Zoom-Zoom, has been sold…The family who bought it seem very nice and promised to take good care of it.

Everything has a memory! Like the round light on the ceiling which marc and I chose at Game together 5 years ago; and the small garden which we re-arranged. The new bathroom also has many memories – memories of lots of dust, heavy manual labour and having to shower at the gym.

It feels a bit like we are not only packing up our stuff but we are packing up all those memories too. But we are not forgetting the moments we have spent in that house, we are just making room for more memories and new beginnings.