Moving Toward Minimalism

Moving is not fun. It involves a lot of culling and organizing, figuring out what's really important and wondering why you have 20 drawings that look exactly the same while simultaneously looking like nothing recognizable. And if you've ever seen my parents' basement (or even if you've just ever met me LOL), you would probably conclude (as I have) that the likelihood of me having minimalistic genes (as opposed to hoarding genes) is not very high. Although, now I'm wondering if their basement looks the way it does just because they wanted to keep everything we ever touched and never moved so never had to consider whether it was really important, which I can totally sympathize with at this point.

Genetic predispositions aside, I have recently developed an appreciation for minimalism. Less stuff = less stuff to clean, keep organized, find a place for and keep in its place. Its a beautiful thing to aim for and I appreciate the opportunity to cut down on the clutter. And yet, somehow, that does not make this any easier.

Add a very cranky 3 month old who just wants to be held all the time, and 2 gorilla girls who just want to play with the boxes (even though you would think the 6 year old would have outgrown the box fascination by now) and a 2 year old who wants to nurse all the time and that just makes anything you're doing harder, especially if its something you don't want to do.

There are 2 lessons to take from this. The first is enjoy the time you're in (I read a great post about this lesson here today). Regardless of your circumstances, it could almost always be worse and even if it couldn't be, its the only time you have. The past is gone, the future isn't here yet and whatever you're doing will not last forever and the parts that will last the longest are the impact you will have on the lives of those around you, not how clean you get your house. That's a hard one to remember. One day you might even miss whatever you're wishing away now, even if you can't imagine ever missing it. The second is do it right the first time. Yes, it takes longer to do it right, but if you do it right, you won't have to do it over again. Which in the long run will take less time.

So I am sitting here with Rory, enjoying her little gummy smiles and little baby coos, waiting for her to go back to sleep so I can go back to packing.