"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on." ~ Havelock Ellis

I couldn’t get a decent picture of one of my old diplomas to upload – not sure why – but I’ve decided that it is further indication that it is time to get rid of it.

And so – the quest to divest continues. I have mentioned before that two of my sisters are also in the process of moving homes. For all three of us to be doing this at the same time – well – it is occasionally comical. Not only are we all going into new homes, we are also relocating to new towns. Actually, two of us are already in, but the work continues.

Yesterday, Bruce and I worked a bit in the garage (which continues to house my studio boxes - more on that in another post). I came across one of my diplomas and decided that there is no real reason for me to keep it. This was 41 years ago. I have never displayed it, it only gets moved from home to home, box to box. So, I took a picture of it and tossed it. When I told my mother what I had done, she was somewhat shocked (I won't tell you the things that she still has - no offense Mom - but some of that stuff has to go), but I assured her that I am very ok with it. There are a few other diplomas hiding somewhere, and I intend to do the exact same thing.

 It seemed that all three sisters who are in the process of moving were involved in the same thing yesterday, and we shared a series of texts as we each stumbled upon items from our past. One sister ran across the script from her 6th grade musical. She stopped what she was doing, and recorded her 58 year old self singing a song from the show, and then texted it to us.  It was a wonderful pause, and a good laugh as we unpacked our pasts, decided to jettison some of it, and hold on to the rest.

During the course of the day, I also had text exchanges with Alex. Would he like a certain rocking chair that had belonged his great-grandparents, how about bowl? I take great pleasure in knowing that family things mean a lot to him, and am gratefully passing them on.

I won't say that I'm getting rid of more than I'm keeping, but I am really trying to "let go". It is frankly, a bit easier for me than I thought it would be. This is a good thing - because the lion's share still awaits me!