Friday, March 28, 2014

Purge, Purge, Purge


It is funny how writing takes on rituals.  As I have been embarking on a new creative venture, distractions abound.  I find that as I am preparing to write that, all of a sudden, menial tasks demand my attention.  Emptying the dishwasher becomes imperative.  The inescapable urge to run the vacuum captures me and I succumb to the pressure.  But then again, this season is also different than most.  Part of the defragging of brain busyness is productive work, too.

The Campagna household has been dialoging about some serious decisions on the table.  This home has been a huge blessing to our family.  It has housed multiple families at multiple times.  It has stayed open all night for friends, and has kept visiting pets.  It has hosted foreign students and transplant couples.  But with the necessary retirement of my husband, this house is becoming too much to handle.   We don’t want the 4700 square feet of family bliss to turn into burden.  So before we find ourselves in a desperate place, we are prepping for change.  

This prepping has created the medium by which I warm up to writing each day. I evaluate possessions.  I find myself thinking about a 1200 square foot home.  If I had to choose, what would I take with me?  Downsizing and eliminating clutter around me and in my mind is good for the soul.  Space is opening up.  The huddled home and muddled mind is beginning to respire.  Oxygen enters.  Those sets of fine china, used what, six times?  They were a fantasy, not practical, not necessary, not even fashionable- four cubic feet of space.  The books that are not pretty or practical enough to be out on display and I won’t read in the next 10 years- 10 cubic feet.  The heart shaped quilt rack- yea.  You get the idea.  This is beginning to hook me.  It’s rewarding.  A stack of boxes is filling up a back room and in a matter of time, it will vanish. It’s freeing to let go…and exciting to know I’ll be ready for whatever decision we make regarding our future. The horizon is foreshadowing a new dawn, a new day, and a new chapter.