Undusted

July 23, 2013

Meadowbrook Road, but not for long

A man is rich
in proportion to the number of things 

which he can afford to let alone.

   HDT Walden, “Where I Lived and What I Lived For”

For the next couple of weeks, things will be pretty busy for me – we are moving !

A month ago, we had no such plans, but life sends you on little detours sometimes.

It’s just a local move, and to a nicer apartment, so it’s a positive thing. 

However, when it’s time to pack things up, THAT’S when you realize how much dust and clutter is in your life.

My mom, who lives with me, is pretty much ready to go. She is a good example for me, as she has ever been.

For me, it's been like going on an archaeological dig.

I’ve been in this apartment for twelve years, and am finding things I didn’t know I had.

Today I found some rocks in a bookshelf – picked up and toted home from some important pilgrimage -- or maybe they were from just up the road -- but I have forgotten just where each came from. Time to set them free !

In the past two weeks, I have been getting rid of things, recycling what I can – to friends, to charities, or straight to the trash. It feels great to do so.

Despite my efforts, there is still an awful lot of stuff that I feel I cannot live without.

There is a whole bookcase full of Thoreauviana to move, enough to fill five boxes worth of irony.

I’ll be here for another two weeks, weeding out what I can, so as to not tax the kindness of friends who will be helping to lug the smaller boxes across town. At the last, we'll be hiring help to carry the furniture on moving day. 

A copy of Walden rests on the night-table – it wouldn’t fit in the last box.

I had three pieces of limestone on my desk,
but I was terrified to find
that they required to be dusted daily,
when the furniture of my mind was all undusted still,
and threw them out the window in disgust.

   HDT Walden, “Economy”