I have spent the last two weekends ridding myself of things. Trash, paperwork, the kids old toys, my old books... the trash, the recyling and the donation. I'm still amazed as to how much we have and how sentimental I STILL am. It's much, much better - but I think we need to do it again in a couple of weeks once I see how nice it is to live without so many THINGS.

As surprised as I have been about the things I want to hold on to, it has been equally surprising to me the things I have chosen to rid myself of. I feel so much lighter because of it. Tomorrow we are going from a 10x30 storage unit to a 10x15 unit (it was $5 more than the 10x10 and we figured the extra space would make it more usable). THat's a lot of stuff. We would like to be consolidated with all of our things in a 10x10 by the end of Fall (including our stuff from AZ). That would be wonderful!

So, I spent a lot of time reading old notes today. Some from friends (Hey Stephanie!!) and many, many, many to and from Dan. From early on in our relationship (9th grade ya'll), to our tumultuous teen years to when he was away in the Marine Corps. The Dear John letter (that broke his heart), and cards we have exchanged over the years.

There was a batch of notes/letters from the end of my Senior year, and I immediately returned to that time. Dan was dating someone else and I was terrified I had pushed him away for good this time. I read each letter while holding my breath. I wanted to go back and give the 17 year old me a hug. I wanted to reassure her that letting him go was the best thing she could do. That when the pain stopped, she would finally realize how much she loved him and for the right reasons. That she would have 3 beautiful little girls with him.

Ahhh Drama.