I could only bear to fill one box with books. Those were the ones I was sure I would not read or need for reference later on.  I hesitated putting in the book about exercising and eating right, but I did anyway knowing that several others with similar information were taking up space on my shelves. I harbored no such hesitancy about the Geometry or Algebra books that my children left behind years ago. Why did I keep them so long? I asked myself.     

I stripped clothes from my closets that neither I nor anyone else in the house could or would wear and bundled them up also.  Jackets too small, skirts too short, pants too tight. Dresses that I had not slipped into since I was a size 10.  A charity’s call for donations provided the motivation today to rid myself of those things that were just taking up space in my home, the things that I held on to in previous spring cleanings.

Sometimes I need the extra impetus to let go.

Over the past few weeks, I also have been getting rid of stuff that’s cluttering my work space. I realized I had to do something about my serious attachment to paper – old newspapers, magazines, printouts, work memos, you name it. I burned out my shredder months ago trying to pare down old bills that were well pass their usefulness.  I needed to open my office space so that my creativity could flow freely.  Plus, I was tired of my husband sticking his head in my office and surveying the stuffed boxes I brought home from my old job nearly two years ago. It was beyond time.

Sometimes letting go becomes unavoidable.

A couple of Saturday’s ago, Greg helped me clear an old computer monitor from my office and load it in my car. I also took several boxes that I had filled with old bills, papers from my college students that I been reluctant to toss and other documents and hauled them to the city’s recycling facility. What a feeling of relief as I drove away from the house. But better yet, when I got to the facility and was getting out of my car, I thought I recognized the woman a couple of cars ahead of me.  She caught my eye at the same time and smiles broke out. Paula and I had not talked to each for a couple of years, but we parked there at the recycling facility for nearly an hour, catching up with news about our children, our travels and our travails, our spiritual lives and our vocational  lives  An old friendship was rekindled.

Sometimes letting go of the old makes room for surprises waiting to happen.

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