The challenge:  to prepare to lie in a furnished 600 square foot guest house, when I’ve been living in a 2800 sq. ft. house for 36 years!

It is an emotion process, because as I sort, memories of past event and people come flooding in. Remembering past passions and interests. Remembering the stages of growing up of my children.

So I perform triage:  what do I absolutely, positively need to be happy and useful in the new place? What will I need immediate access to (for classes, ongoing research), and what can I do without in the long term?

And I know I’ll do another sort after I move.  I know I’m packing too much to take with me.

It’s a process of letting go. Even though I’m still curious about a subject, if I haven’t read the book since purchasing it in 2003, what is the probability of my doing so in the next 5 to 10 years?

I’ve sorted fabric, and keep finding little sewing kits assembled for some project. I know I won’t be making lace shawls (I’m into simple, mindless knitting), so I don’t need the books and patterns for elaborate constructions.  I won’t be doing elaborate quilts, either.  And those knitting needles that seem to multiply in various corners (did I really know I had at least 6 sets of size 6 needles?), well it took me two hours to sort through and size them all and set about half aside for an estate sale.

But no matter how much I’ve sorted and boxed, it seems there’s SO much more to do! The house just keeps getting bigger and bigger, with more and more rooms!

The result will be simplifying my life.  That is a laudable goal, and one which I have been preaching for a long time.

But it’s a challenge – with a deadline, because the papers have been signed, and agreements made.