Friday, March 13, 2009

Cleanin' Out My Closet

With all due respect to Em.in.em (who I strangely love), it is not as interesting as he makes it sound. We are T-minus 3.5 months and counting from the big move from Whooville to NewCity. Mr. Whoo has been a packing machine (watch him get down), and we are getting ready to pack the first of our P.O.D.S. in anticipation of the move. Unfortunately, the closet has been begging and pleading for our mutual attention. We have been fortunate enough to be blessed with a home with a large master closet. Well, I guess I mean blessed and cursed, because every damn thing that does not have a home ends up in our spacious closet. Oh, shit! Company coming? Shove it in the closet. Stacks of paper with no where to put it? The closet sounds like a good idea! No time to deal with it now? Put it in the closet. And so on, and so forth for 3+ years and counting. Except now? We need to show the house, awesome closet and all. Not to mention the fact that we need to pack, and, my lord! Do we really need all of this *stuff*?

So, for the last few days, we have been working on the closet. I have been forced to go through all of my clothing, hanging on hangers in the closet since 1991. I am not kidding. There were clothes in my closet that I wore in high school, and I have the yearbook pictures to prove it. To me, this begs the question...why in the *hell* am I holding on to these clothes? For one, there is no hope in hell of me fitting into my old high school clothes...ever. And, even if I managed to get back down to 110 pounds soaking wet, would I really be wearing a flowered shirt from The Limited? Really? (Does that store even exist anymore?) I took the plunge, made some hard (ahem) choices, and managed to purge more than half of my closet in favor of donations to Good.will. Going through the clothes was kind of therapeutic and fun, in a way. I finally parted with the cute gray skirt I would wear out on chilly nights in college with tights, and the sundry "dressy" skirts I would wear to my sorority chapter meetings. There were a lot of good memories in that closet, and, hopefully, the clothes that I donated will go on to a new owner (someone that can actually fit into them) and be a part of their memories. I feel a bit anthropomorphic, thinking of my clothes this way, but hey, I am the girl who cried about packing away stuffed animals because I thought they would miss me (damn you Veleveteen Rabbit book!)

I am finding that the more of the clutter that we pack away, the clearer my mind becomes. I have loved visiting the past by sorting through old clothes and sundry items stashed in the closet, but I have also felt comfortable leaving them behind and moving on to better things. I feel good about moving forward, and I am happy to be getting closer to a new life...one closet at a time. I hope you all are well...Happy Friday the 13th!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Clothes make me remember too...just recently I parted with my maternity clothes. It was hard - I had hoped to use them at least one more time! But as I packed them into a box for a friend, I went through all the happy and sad things that happened as I wore them and by the time I closed the box, I was ready to move on to just loving my completed family and all the fun things we'll be able to do with the youngest growing out of the baby stage. :)

Fizzlemed said...

I, too, have lived in the same place for 3 years. Amazing how quickly the *crap* piles up. I will have to approach that daunting task in the next few months as well. Best of luck with the purging and packing!

Anonymous said...

Good thing I have a small closet...because we move quite frequently and don't need any more nooks or crannies for things to hide in! I'd be curious to know how your move with PODS goes. We've been looking into using Door to Door moving pods because their rates seemed more reasonable (nor did we need the huge pod.)

Anonymous said...

That's good you're clearing out.

You don't want to end up with Stacey and Clinton confronting you in the lounge and your 1991-to present wardrobe getting tossed out on national television!

dr. whoo? said...

Amber~ Yes, I packed up my share of maternity clothes, as well. I'm not certain that I am quite done, although at present our family is so lovely. I haven't made any permanent decisions yet. I am not ready to part with neither my maternity nor my babies' clothes. Hmmm.


Fizzlemed~ Yes, I am a total pack rat. Mr. Whoo is less of a pack rat, so he is trying to reform me. I wish you the best of luck, as well! :)

Ian~ So far, the PODS solution has been great. I will keep you posted!

GingerB~ Hahaha! How did you know that it is my dream (once I lose my ton of weight) to have Stacey and Clinton make me over. I am dying for a fashion intervention. Dying! (Do you hear me, "What Not to Wear?")

Lara said...

Dr. Whoo, I adore you. I'm also so glad to learn that Rob and I aren't alone in tossing everything in the closet when company is coming. All of our closets are out of control. xoxoxo!