Excavating the past...
Thank you so much for all of the lovely messages. I'm on a more even keel.
Today I have begun a few tasks that I've been avoiding, the largest of which was going through my "box of shame" before packing it away. It's a huge box of assorted paper stuff that my parents kept for/about/by me. There are also a lot of photos. My report cards uniformly show that I was precociously intelligent, had great difficulty making friends, and did not participate well in group activities. Later on, gym reports mentioned that I was lacking in coordination and unsually strong. There are a lot of letters from me, mostly from London where I had run away. As well as postcards, signs (the best one is to our parents, saying that if they don't clean up their mess, Rachel and I will not touch a single dish all week!") Much of the stuff is lavishly illustrated. Too bad I don't have a scanner. These are definitely not the works of a happy child, although a number of traits I exhibited definitely helped me choose my path in life.
All four of us got our "boxes of shame," although I think my oldest sister's holds the least, at least until she joined a cult. My brother was an aspiring petty criminal (he got it from my father's side of the family) and my other sister was, well, difficult in many ways. Hideously shy, would cry for days before starting school.
As far as my to-do list, I called to have the rug picked up to be cleaned, unpacked more clothing that I found in unidentified bags, threw out three large bags of clothing. You can't donate clothes, etc. when you've had bedbugs. Now to keep working down the list. Once I turned off the tv, it was much easier to get going! Next up, sorting laundry and continuing to cut down my Facebook friends list.
In the near future, organizing my library!