When Mark was young, he liked to set up our little carnival pieces during the first days of summer vacation from school. Now I set them up for my own delight…and for our grandson.
Since the USA celebrates its 250th birthday this year, I included more bunting than usual. 🇺🇸
I’ve tried many times to purge the children’s art from our storage room. It’s been 20 years and I still can’t throw away this rendering of a cookie factory by a very young Daniel. (And many other masterpieces by our kids.)
Other things that I find difficult to remove, but should:
high school awards and yearbooks
unused recipe books
extra mugs
books I will not read again
plates we never use
old sleeping bags
unused picture frames
power cords collected over 30 years
cast off cell phones
old pillowcases
baby blankets
extra throw pillows
We don’t keep our clutter in the open. It lurks in our storage areas and closets. Decluttering is perpetual for me, but it really ramped up when the children left home. People don’t notice a difference when I clear a closet shelf or storage bin, but I notice that my mind is a little more free.
As I phase out the Christmas decorations, I need to remind myself that I am not the villain of the house for taking down all the joy. It always makes us sad to see them go.
Here are the things I am telling myself,
The decorations will be back again. They are special partly because they are a novelty.
I need to simplify my lines of sight and reduce the number of objects requiring attention. It’s time for me to hibernate, read, sew, and be cozy for a few months without all the extras. It’s okay to need a break.
The tang of cool evening air has signaled to my brain that summer is coming to an end. I have taken down the summer decor and replaced it with some autumn things. It always makes family members sad when I pack up two seasons, summer and Christmas, so I try to make the changes when when no one is looking.
This will be the season that Tim gets married. We moved furniture to his new apartment this weekend and seeing his room at our house without a bed was jarring. There are many endings in life. The children leave for college and they leave for missions, but when they get married, we experience a more definitive end to the years of being together. He won’t sleep under our roof many more nights.
I don’t mind decor changing, in fact, I welcome it. But it really makes me pause when I see those empty rooms once inhabited by our children.
I remember dates from our history, and if I am not careful, this blog could become a log of old memories. Today is another special one. August 13th was the day we moved into our current home 13 years ago. The move had a significant impact on our children’s lives and who they chose to marry.
Paige was introduced to Michael through a friend from our Sandy ward.
Daniel met McKenna in middle school.
Tim met Queenie in high school.
The house has adapted to many configurations of family members, in and out through their college and mission years. Lately we can count on weekend visits from Tim because Queenie lives nearby.
Today the corners of our house hold Queenie’s wedding dress while I finish some alterations, settings and centerpieces for a wedding luncheon, storage for Daniel and Tim’s belongings, and Mark’s old crib in his room for visits from Paige’s family. Most of the time I am alone in the house now. It has been a good house for our family in all our seasons.
Paige’s little boy loves to be outdoors. During their visit, we spent evenings in the backyard catching bugs, studying the I-spy quilt, and holding his hand as he walked around. When the crew arrived to take down our old fence, he and Richard spent some time watching the process. Later, when telling us all about it, he imitated the sounds of the fence crashing down. Who needs a lot of words when you can imitate the sounds of tools and workers so well?
Those tiny moments together this week amount to more than most events of my life.
We’re getting ready to entertain two young families with babies. Paige and her family are coming, and Celina and her young family are coming to stay with us. Celina and Paige became friends 19 years ago in Arizona and have remained close. It’s time for their little boys to meet. I am populating shelves with toys and books in anticipation. Hooray!
I guess I needed a 1980’s week without posting on the Internet. I have been doing invisible home maintenance things and I’m blessed to have the time and energy to do them.
Paige sent these photos. 😄
Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
John 13:1
