Progress.....

   I can walk on about, half the floor in my spare room.  Thats progress!!! When I moved here, just before the holidays, this room was 4 boxes high, covering the entire floor!  I keep on weeding out and throwing away.  Sometimes, it is with a tear, the sentiments are strong and I want to cherish things.  It is so easy to go back and dwell in the past, to swirl around in memories and get lost.  Much of the memories are wonderful, some are deeply painful, some leave me with a crushing longing for times gone by.   

     Then, I have to remember that my future is not in looking back, but keeping my feet firmly planted in today, the here, the now and the future. Joy comes from helping my neighbors today, going for a walk in the woods tomorrow, meeting my new friend and planning a camera trip, expecting my dear friend to visit later this winter.  I don't love the memory of my daughter, of my parents, my husband, or my Uncle, any less.  They are carefully tucked away in my heart where they are safe, protected and available whenever I want to spend a minute........   They are not in the "stuff" I have packed away in boxes, stacked on one another, in a closet, behind a door, in a room where I don't walk very often.
      Cleaning out my "stuff" has been and continues to be a bitter/sweet task.  I know that I am making room for all of the wonderful times, people and experiences yet to come......