Friday five: "A year of travel is so much better than STUFF."

We've had the opportunity to share our "purging" story with quite a few folks so far.  Some we've met recently; many came through our apartment during our weekend pre-sale almost a month ago, our subsequent public sale the following weekend, or our final "prices slashed, please please please - just take it away!" two chaotic weeks before leaving.  Everyone who's asked has been intrigued and supportive of our plan; one of the best responses to our story is the subject of this post.

The purging itself isn't really much of a story though.  Small bits and pieces involving emotional attachment were stored with family and friends (thank you, you know who you are!); the rest was sold, given away or as a very last resort, trashed.  But five moments definitely stuck out in our minds as we reflected on the insanity of the process.  In no particular order, they include...

• The first hour of our pre-sale when a friend's son bought Patrick's computer table and another friend bought his armoire.  These triggered momentary panic attacks of "um, where do I put my stuff?"... coupled with "um... this just got really real".
• The second hour of our pre-sale when a friend's son fell in love with Clarence Jr. and took him home. 

 Clarence Jr and Penguin - BFF 
(he also took home Crabby, now known as Will.I.Am.)

• The second-to-last day of our purge when a couple excitedly bought our bulletin board with map and pins intact, and promised to chart their own territory.

 $2 for the board and map

make your own dream: priceless

• The last day of our purge when Mike came through on the couch.  Two people had just flaked on the bed - our only other remaining big piece of furniture - at the eleventh hour.  We ended up strapping it to Patrick's Subaru and donating it to Community Warehouse and we were very worried that we'd have to do the same with the couch (it wouldn't have been pretty).  Mike not only came through with the money and the on-time pickup, he also offloaded several condiments and a couple of beers we would've otherwise had to trash.  Thank you, Mike.  Enjoy your worcestershire sauce.
• The last hour of our purge.  A woman had emailed in response to a Craigs List ad looking for anything for her family's new apartment; their family lost their home a while back and they were finally able to move into their own place after struggling for seven months.  She trekked all the way from Beaverton and took the last of our dishes, pots/pans, random cleaning products and anything else we wanted to give her.  Her gratitude was overwhelming. 

And so we were left with an almost-empty apartment, a truckload of personal possessions, and a general plan... in other words, a will and a way.

 

the end before the beginning