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All you’ve got is what you’ve lived through
May 19th, 2009
In preparation for moving house across Canada, I’ve spent most of the past two weekends packing up, sorting through the archaeology of my life, deciding what to store, what to keep close, and what to finally let go. And so, in a lot of ways, I feel like I’ve been spending time with my much younger self.
I’ve always been a “packrat”, or as I like to call it, a “conservator”. I’ve kept receipts, ticket stubs, negatives, business cards, and all those other little insignificant mementos of the places I’ve been, of the people I’ve known. Over time, some of them lose their significance. Others become all the more important to the little stories that make up my life.
Among other things, I discovered the following:
- A group 5 x 7 photo of all the vacationers at the Club Med in Phuket, c. 2000. Of particular interest are the raunchy South African couple in the front row, grabbing at each others’ privates. Classy.
- My Indigo Girls scrapbook, c. 1998 – 2001, detailing shows I’d forgotten, trips I’d taken (Atlanta, Oregon, Minnesota), and fellow fans I ran into just once and never again.
- A box of my first stash; crappy acrylic blends purchased at Zeller’s in Edmonton the summer I taught myself to knit.
- A tiny little notebook that I used when traveling, c. 2005. Most of the pages are blank, with the exception of several in a row, filled with sketches and attempts at cyrillic, with which I attempted to purchase train tickets out of Krasnoyarsk.
- A packet of letters and cards from my significant ex-girlfriend, c. 2001-2003, reminding me of the term “hunner-bunner”, long since disappeared from my vocabulary.
- Several laminated maps showing the Paris Metro, rail routes in Europe, and San Francisco, all c. 1999. I don’t know if they make these anymore. I think they were called Streetwise Maps, and they were fantastic for traveling. Of course, now I’d be much more likely to just use Google Maps on my blackberry, data roming charges notwithstanding.
- Photos of my old coworkers from eFinance, out at a dance place, drinking Tequila, c. 2001. And no, I haven’t had a Tequila shot since.
- Mementos from my cross-country roadtrip, with Chrystie, when I moved from the University of Illinois to Sunnyvale, c. 1999, including a AAA guidebook and a lot of photos.
How much of these small things do you carry with you through life? Enough to remember the good – and the bad? Or just a few select artifacts that bring a smile to your face?
I threw away a whole bunch of my past this weekend. All the photos and journals stayed, of course, but some of the old and less important objects; maps, cards, receipts… those could go.
Part of getting older is knowing that my memories have already changed, have already faded, and they’ll just continue to do so. But the stuff that’s really important, I’ve already documented. Here on the blog, in journals, in scrapbooks, and through letters and postcards.
I hope I still feel ok with it down the road. I always worry about regrets after going through a bit of a purge like this. But history has shown me that I never actually regret it after the fact. The stuff that matters isn’t stuff, anyway. It’s what I remember when I take a moment and close my eyes.
Are we there yet?
May 13th, 2009
Some days I feel like I’m just walking down this endless path connecting where I was with where I want to be. Right now, I want to have my life just a little more together.
While it’s awesome that the store is in great hands, that we can make actual plans for living in the same city again, there’s oh-so-much to do between now and when that can happen. I have a big project to launch, a pattern to design and publish, two households to pack and move, several pets to transport around the country, and annoying things like broken transmissions to take care of on top of it all.
I haven’t really had the opportunity to share all the plans with you guys, so maybe I should do so now!
This coming weekend, we’re having a big garage sale to pare things down a little bit, to get rid of things we don’t love and don’t need to pay to move cross-country. A lot of the stuff includes duplicates; dvd players, irons, household stuff. And there’s quite a bit of yarn that neither of us is entirely enthralled with. (Let’s be honest, my wife doesn’t stash much. It’s pretty much all mine. I say this with a lot of humility and pride, for the record.) And some really good clothing that doesn’t fit – or never has. You know, the kind of things that are good and all, but should probably find a better life with a new family.
After that, we (i.e., Sandra) can continue packing up the house in Calgary into boxes to be moved or stored while we figure things out over the coming months. Thankfully, we already made a good dent in it last weekend, and I feel good that this coming weekend, we’ll get even more done.
May 31 / June 1, I move my pretty considerable amount of everything-but-furniture into the first floor of the house I’ve been living. While I’ve been living in the attic and sharing the second floor apartment with the owner of the house, the first floor is a separate one bedroom with backyard access; the perfect transitional home for Sandra and I and the dogs.
Although I’m kind of in love with this funky big attic space, I’m looking forward to having my own space again. And, every time I’ve flown back to Calgary, I’ve schlepped back at least a hockey bag’s worth of stuff to save on shipping costs later on.
Then, the night of June 18th I fly back to Calgary to pick up my family and go for a little camping road trip en route to Toronto… together… at long last. I don’t have the exact plan figured out, but we’ll be going slightly out of the way to check out the Pacific Coast along Washington and Oregon, and then high-tail it through the centre of the country with a quick stop in Boulder to visit our friends at Schacht and (hopefully) see the Indigo Girls in concert. If you have any dog-friendly suggestions in Washington, Oregon, or between Portland and Boulder and Toronto, please let me know!
How three weeks on the road is going to work with two 85 pound labs… I don’t know. It could be fun, or it could be funny, but it’s probably going to be a good combination of both. Since Cooper is afraid of the dark, we’ve got an appointment with the vet tomorrow to see if any kind of mild sedatives are available to help him sleep in the tent a little better than the last time we went camping.
It’s all good. Everything is good. There’s just a lot of Everything between now and June 18th. And while I know it’ll all get done, I just want it to hurry up and get done already.
In knitting terms, I’m more than ready to cast off.
Big Stash Sale in Calgary!
May 11th, 2009
Sandra and I spent the weekend packing up and sorting through my considerable yarn stash.
If you’re in Calgary, don’t miss our Garage Sale, this Saturday from 9am – 3pm! Leave a comment for our address in NW Calgary!
A significant part of my stash is going to be on sale, including sweater quantities of Rowan, Classic Elite, Debbie Bliss, and single skeins/balls for $1.00 each! Books and patterns and needles too!
We’re also selling lots of books, cds, furniture, clothing, electronics and more.
Leave a comment for our address!