on hurricanes and reason #45 why i love my husband
We started packing up our house and paring down after Hurricane Katrina. Because you just never know when a hurricane is going to tear through, even in placid Portland, Ore.
Naw, it was because my girlfriend R, an old friend of my sister’s and mine, lost her house in New Orleans and almost everything in it. She, her husband and her kids were okay, and sometimes, that’s enough. But they lost all their stuff, see? No stuff! So I packed up roughly half of my house and sent it to them. I had too much stuff, anyway.
R’s sister, C, wrote Diary from Louisiana entries about their experiences for my blog, so their friends would have a place to find them and know what was going on in their world. You’ll find the posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here and also here.
Me at the post office, mailing another three boxes: “You got a rate for ‘We’re in Deep Shit, Louisiana, please help’?”
Post office guy: “Nope. I wish we did.”
Me: “Gimme book rate.”
I mailed them towels, dishes, toys, toothpaste, toiletries, videos, books, sheets. Basically anything that would fit into a box, didn’t weigh too much, and that I could tape shut and not have the box break open. My sister and our friends mailed them some stuff, too, and some people kicked in a little money.
That is what you call “love in a box,” my friend.
They shared it all out, then they sent us a King Cake for Mardi Gras, and a thank you note. A thank you note! This undid me. I love Southern girls. They are thoughtful, even in the time of a crisis. I have not heard from them in awhile and I miss them. They are nice girls, you’d like them.
So what I’m saying is, how can I have so much junk to pack? We are anti-junk here. We’re not compulsive shoppers, we share the love, we don’t have any excessive habits. I am a little intimidated by how much we have to pack — dishes, towels, plastic dohickeys, toys, clothes, books…
Hockey God, on packing: “I’m not opposed to throwing it all in boxes and just taking it to the new place. I’ve done it before.”
That was just what I needed to hear. So if I’m not blogging much? It’s cuz I’m packing.
, 
.
What got me through my own purge and pack:
* Selling even more stuff on Craigslist, or giving it away
* Rubbermaid totes – great for just tossing toys in
* Laundry baskets/hampers. (It’s how I moved a lot of the kitchen, which I took over first in the car.)
* Garbage bags. Great for dirty laundry, bedding, and the like.
October 15th, 2007 | #
freecycle is good.
I’m convinced I’m going to have a free garage sale someday.
October 15th, 2007 | #
If you still have your textbooks from college, toss em. Oh and those boots from high school, along with the jeans in your “They may fit me someday museum” toss em.
We moved three times within 3 years, long story, but we did get rid of a lot of stuff. Have fun.
October 15th, 2007 | #
Every time I have a garage sale it ends up being FREE….You want it, TAKE IT! At least I don’t put it back in the house to deal with again.Moving is good. In my younger days I moved frequently, and always pared down. NOW…I haven’t moved in 16 years, and even though we take stuff to Goodwill, have yard sales (freesales) and fill up dumpsters, I am still overwhelmed with JUNK. Mostly my kids’ stuff…that they won’t part with. Consider yourself lucky! You are paring down.
October 15th, 2007 | #
The junk, it is amazingly prolific! Worse than rabbits, oh yes. We JUST moved from overseas with only 8 suitcases for 5 people, and already we have junk. So you have my sympathies.
October 15th, 2007 | #
Internet,
A secret — part of the reason Edj (Planet Nomad) has so much junk now is cuz I offloaded a bunch of our stuff onto her!
Sneaky, no?
October 15th, 2007 | #