This evening was one of the toughest as we prepare to move on to the next chapter of our lives. This evening I cleaned out Baby Boy’s closet. Our baby graduated from high school 7 years ago and I have totally redone his room top to bottom. I just wasn’t able to let go of his “stuff” he left in the closet because it sort of defined him at that period in his life. I guess that there was a part of me that just wasn’t ready to acknowledge that he is now a grown married man with a life totally separate from ours. We moved into this house as a family of four and will be moving out as a pair of empty nesters. This past week I had Baby Boy tell me what he wanted to keep and what he did not want in preparation to get the house on the market. The paintball guns he said go, the Supernintendo went home with him, the fireworks were disposed of (yes, I did say fireworks. No telling how old they were.), the work boots and clothes are staying for now in case he gets some contract work this summer, the trophies and awards will be boxed for moving because I want his children to see them one day. Each and every thing that I picked up, moved or touched brought back a flood of happy memories. This was my baby boy’s home from the time he started middle school until he married Sweet Amanda last summer. My husband built shelving in this closet when it became clear that baby boy needed a place for stuff more than he did clothes. It was not unusual for him to have an ax lying in the floor of the closet after one of his trail cutting trips or goggles hanging from the closet rod. He has been a little boy, lifeguard, a bus boy, a waiter, a camp counselor, a baseball umpire, and a construction worker while this was his closet and all those jobs left items in the closet. He loves music, and video games, and his friends. Each time he moved on to a new activity the stuff ended up in the closet. There are a few things that I will be boxing up to keep because I am just not readyto totally let go but I am really proud that I was able to let so much go. Tonight I will go to bed and cry, but tomorrow is another day and a new adventure. I am blessed. Thank you to those of you who are on this journey with me as my dear husband and I move forward in this journey.
Yes, that is paint guns. Four of them. I really did only have one son.
Before
I am calling this one the time capsule. all the treasures found in Kent’s closet that I could not let go of.
Emptied out and ready to go!
