There’s a large wooden shelf in the garage that holds many strings of lights and woven baskets. We took Mom’s Christmas lights and baskets from her house because I knew we would use them to make some sort of fun again. We added Mom’s lights to the ones we already had, and we have just about every kind of light you can imagine. Multicolored lights, lights surrounded by pedals to look like flowers, and large old-fashioned lights with white bulbs just to name a few. I tried to ignore the tangled mess over and over again by not looking at that side of the garage and telling myself that no one would notice. I mean, really, does anybody really care what their garage looks like? I guess I do.
The mess became a chore that I could no longer ignore. I removed the lights and the baskets from the shelves. The strings were easy to wind around and untangled pretty easily. I held the string in my hand and wrapped the cord around my elbow spinning the cord around in a circle from my elbow to my hand one end to the other, over and over again. Bunches of lights went in the baskets, and baskets lined the shelves. It was the only thing I wanted to organize that day, but then I noticed the floor.
I swept the dirt and dried leaves into a pile. I brushed away the cobwebs that held little insects that could not escape. The dirt tried to sneak back into the cracks, but I got it out and threw it away. All that sweeping caused little rivets of moisture to trickle down my back, and I was glad the day was somewhat cool and the wind was light. I didn’t want more leaves or dirt to sneak back inside.
Photo Courtesy of flickr.com
Mike and I also worked on making a pile of things that we didn’t need any more: outgrown bikes, bike helmets, Rollerblades, tennis shoes, cleats and the ugly but old comfortable outdoor chairs left by the previous owners many years ago. We stacked the things in the van to be donated to the church garage sale. I was glad I was able to find room for all the lights, and we didn’t have to donate one string. I noticed that the crazy daisy that we hadn’t used for a very long time had ended up in the pile. I felt like it was Andy from Toy Story, because I wasn’t ready to let go of it yet, but I just let it stay in the pile, and I hoped the crazy daisy would find its Bonnie. Some little kid would play with it and it would make some sort of fun again.
Picture Courtesy of NYCuty55
Now we don’t bump into things like we used to, don’t have to try to squeeze around stuff we didn’t use, and don’t have to worry about the cars getting scratched by the old comfy chairs.
I’m just trying to hold onto the things that will make some sort of fun for us again.
My Reality Show 