Last night was a dark and stormy night... so I started working on straightening up here.
After all, the house has six closets - SIX!!! - and I have something in each one.
Rather ridiculous, right?
At least I emptied my attic years ago.
The four expandable file folders contained graphs and charts and overhead drawings and reference papers and notes from long-ago research meetings with my long-dead major professor, Leo Mandelkern, at FSU.
My doctorate was awarded in 1996.
That makes my PhD in analytical chemistry 25 years old.
Why do I still have this stuff?
The death of my middle brother has impressed upon me once more the need to get rid of things that no longer are used or have meaning to me.
Yes, I go on these sprees with every death of one I love.
Yes, I still have an incredible amount of material possessions, but I'm whittling away at that volume and mass.
All one has to do is look at my recycling bin to see progress.
I can appreciate Ronnie's lack of regard for material things; cleaning up his camp site behind the Marathon gas station probably only took about an hour.
I say "probably" because I don't know who did it, but I'm grateful they did.
What will become of my vase from Panama or my plastic cherry blossoms from Okinawa? What of all the art I have on my walls, of the collection of wooden fish in the dining room, of the music CDs and movie DVDs and Grandmama's teapots?
I well remember the monumental task of clearing out Mother Pat's condo in 2007.
She, like me, lived alone, so her residence had to be completely emptied after she died; that meant all the closets, stuffed full, had to be cleared out; all the drawers and shelves and cabinets had to become barren; the basement of old furniture and boxes had to be brought up and removed; all the bedding and linens and clothes needed new homes.
What an ordeal, and what squabbling that caused about division of her goods.
Ronnie didn't leave behind any such issues, as he left nothing.
I've already marked a few items with names of designated new owners, but I still have quite a few that are not yet.
My goal is to get that completed before my next birthday.
Yes, that's fairly ambitious, but absolutely doable.
I'm going to draw inspiration from the guy in the bandanna.
In the 1980's, the Hawaiian was part of a native male hula-dancing group gaining prominence.
He got the group back together, along with some young blood, too, and they trained for the Merrie Monarch Festival, competed in the group hula dances... and won!
That was in 2005, and I just watched it.
It reminded me of the Aloha Festival I attended in Las Vegas in 2013 - such fun!
Yes, I think another memory-making trip is in order.
"Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard", which I've seen in the cinema the past two nights running, had fabulous views of the Amalfi coast and Positano and Florence, bringing my trip to those areas with the nurses in 2012 flooding back to my senses.
Yes, I think another memory-making trip is in order.
The question is: where shall I go?
(smile!)
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