Thank You, Helen

Friday afternoon I had the opportunity to attend the funeral of a lady whom I'd never met.  Her name was Helen and she only lived a couple of blocks away. We had spoken briefly on the phone because she was my visiting teaching supervisor for a while...but I'd never gone out of my way to meet her and health challenges made it hard for her to leave her home.

At first I felt a little uncomfortable being there. Grief is such a private emotion and I, not knowing Helen or her family, felt out of place because I wasn't grieving.

But then the stories unfolded and I was blessed with a glimpse into the life of a wonderful woman. I marveled at her patient, loving, long-term service. Her sense of humor. Her commitment. Her testimony. Her love for her family and willingness to work so hard behind the scenes. The love her family had for her was beautiful and tender.

Soon I was grieving because I hadn't met her. I sat with tears streaming down my face, unable to sing a single word of the closing hymn. I was touched, moved to try harder and inspired to love more fully. Prompted to make the effort to get to know people better, so I can hear their stories and and learn from them while they are still here.

Decluttered - A sampling of things that don't live here anymore and why they were evicted

Cute wooden dollhouse - E has a larger dollhouse that she plays with most of the time. Whenever I looked at this one, I remembered how B fell on it and cut his forehead open on one of the gables. The gash required several stitches to close. Ouch.

Little People and other baby toys - We are talking the "Ohhhh....remember when we bought that for so and so..." type of toys. Lots of happy memories of Christmases and birthdays past, happy giggles, and tiny hands. But, as B (my faithful 4-year-old decluttering buddy) reminded me "Mom, no babies live here anymore." He is right, and I don't need the toys to remember the ones who did. Donated to a place that works closely with the women's shelter and almost cried when I set them in the bin.

Old Institute study manuals - Haven't attended a formal institute class for at least eleven years, and would search online if I wanted to know something that might be contained in one of these bulky books. One entire shelf emptied.

Clothes I don't wear - Some really nice pieces that others have given to me. But what good are lovely clothes that you don't ever wear? I tend to wear the same things again and again. I'm considering doing a "Project 333" type of thing where you choose 33 items (excluding undies, workout clothes, socks, pj's) and wear them for 3 months. After I packed up my summer clothes, there are only about 40 items (including maybe's) left anyway. I'm wearing the items from my "maybe" pile this week. At the end of the day, if I liked it, I'll keep it. If I didn't, I'll donate it.

A couple of cookbooks and a huge pile of cooking magazines - I am blessed with a family of picky eaters who enjoy eating the same very simple things repeatedly. Why am I keeping books I don't ever cook out of or magazine that encourage me to try new recipes nobody (except me and B) will eat?  How about the one where everything is measured in grams instead of cups and teaspoons? I cut my favorite recipes out of the magazines and let the rest go. I also cancelled my subscription. If I need a new recipe, I'll look online or call one of my friends who are fantastic cooks.

Books - This is a hard one for me. I love books and have a hard time parting with them, especially if they are hardcover and have pretty endpaper. Non-fiction reference books = keep. Beautiful picture books = keep. "Free" kids books that they don't like =  gone. Most of the fiction that I've already read and can get at the library = let go. While talking with a friend I realized that I rarely read the same fiction books twice, or at least not until several years have passed. I don't need to keep my own copy. Some books shared to friends. Some to the library. Some to the D.I.

Plastic food storage containers, mostly LIDS - Are you laughing? I was. I found twice as many lids as containers. Now the drawer shuts and I can find the right lid without digging around for five minutes.

Games we don't play - If it wasn't fun four years ago, and it still wasn't fun last year, why do I think it might suddenly be fun to play next year?

Bags of frozen, freezer burned, shredded zucchini, circa 2009 - Mmmm! Wouldn't that make some tasty zucchini bread. Obviously pushed to the back of the freezer. However, it has survived several defrosting projects, did I just toss it back in without reading the date? Gone.