It's official - we're OUT! The house is completely empty, and the motorhome is packed to the gills. The steps to get here were haggard and draining at best. To be clear, remember, I have been purging the house like it was my full time job for the last year - and yet, still truckloads came and went. Went to the RV, went to the dump, or went to our parents' homes for temporary storage. TRUCKLOADS! Moving the dishes, or rather, giving away the dishes, or the towels, the blankets, the bathroom
necessities from one place to another was not agonizing. In fact, I enjoyed that part. I have become a stone-cold killer of clutter, and minimizing is my jam! But the bumps came. The curveballs in the shape of memories and keepsakes hit all of us straight in the gut. Jason and I both kept every card we gave to each other, and of course, the cards our boys made as they grew were added to the box of treasured moments. Imagine the tears and heartache as each card was re-read, photographed, then promptly thrown in the dump pile. Years of love notes, handmade school gifts, teeth from the Tooth Fairy, now all sit at the dump next to tore up mattresses, broken TVs, grass clippings, and whatever everyone else throws in the trash heap these days.
Then there's those items that we came across that needed saved. There is zero chance that we will use them in the RV or on our boat, but we simply could not part from them. Two very different items for me come to mind: 1) my letterman jacket, and 2) the boys' growth chart. The first is absurd, I
know, but that jacket was LIFE twenty-plus years ago. Our family did not live lavishly growing up. My parents had four girls within seven years, and they worked their tails off to provide for us. So the year my parents bought me that jacket, I beamed with pride - especially as the patches and pins began to roll in throughout my high school career. That jacket holds a family legacy on the back: Scofield. And I refuse to let that legacy metaphorically die in the trash pile. Second was the
boys' growth chart. I made that chart before Cord was born over seven years ago. This plank of stained wood holds years of the boys striving to be taller than one another. It holds a momma's tears and heart strings as she marks another ruler line further up the wall. This chart will stay with family, and when we come back around, another mark of growth will be added. This chart will forever be with us. Those are my babies on there.
Speaking of my precious babies, my boys were hit hard going through their rooms as well. Their toys were down-sized to one 12x12x12" tote. My mantra for them: "Does it fit in your box? Then you can keep it". Then there were the books. Oh my word, Ryan's books! He's a reader and I love that he gets lost in a story. However, he's a reader that reads the same book OVER AND OVER! So when it came to downsizing the five bookshelves packed in Ryan's room, there were tears and a heartbreaking look that tore this momma apart. We found a compromise though - Ryan would be willing to give up a lot of the "paper" for reading on his Kindle, and any book we couldn't find on Kindle, we stowed away in the RV.
A surprising twist of emotion came from Ryan and Barrett's poptart costumes. I made these costumes years ago when Ryan wanted to be a poptart for Halloween, and go figure, there were no stores or online shops that carried one. Thankfully, they were both thrilled with the idea that the costumes were going to a family that had twins, and the poptart Halloween tradition will continue.
We got through the process together though, and we are stronger for it. Day by day our dream home became less and less ours, and more and more empty. The boys spent their last night on the bedroom floor in the midst of a giant stash of glow sticks they found during the cleanout.
I spent about an hour in our house yesterday for the final time. I vacuumed for the final time. I wiped the kitchen down for the final time. I opened every cupboard and cleared out what we missed for the final time. And I cried over every room for the final time.
Downsizing is not for the faint of heart, and we had to do it together. When one of us was defeated and just simply done, another came along side to hug, encourage, and keep us all moving.
We are now three days into RV living. Living in convenience because we're fully hooked up at Jason's parents' house while Jason works his last four days at Platt Electric. We can see our house from across the field. In the next 24 hours, we will see the moving trucks and the new family making it their home. I dread seeing any change to what I felt was already a picture perfect home, but the memories and joy created in that home are coming with us, and that's a pretty big deal.
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