Sweeping cement
Moving all your possessions from a home is a lot like sweeping cement. It's a process where you can go through a room several times and still find more things and bits and odds and ends. No move can possibly occur where you don't end up leaving something behind.
There is a point, though where you have to draw the line, where you have to call it quits. The second to last step, I like to call the opening of cupboards. It's where you go through the place and open every closet and cupboard and drawer, and once you're sure that it's completely empty, you leave it open. Anything that isn't open, obviously hasn't been checked yet.
The last step is the closing of doors. One by one you check every room and once you're sure that it's empty, you close all the cupboards and closets, turn the lights off, and shut the door. Typically it's best to do this from the furthest corner of the house toward the front door. Once all the lights are off and the doors closed, then you're as close as you can ever possibly be to having everything moved out.
If you're anything like me, though, there's another step. It involves sitting alone in the front room before you leave for the last time and crying for a while.
~
I saw an empty shell today where once my life had been:
a wire frame of things that were that never would again;
and though I wish for things that were that won't and never again will be,
still I envision myself there happy and content.
And so I'll cry and so I'll weep
even though my tears won't keep
the happy haunting thoughts out of my mind,
and bold I'll go and bold my stride
despite the many tears I've cried
my life will go on though inside I've died.
A thousand rooms so bare when first to see them I did come.
I filled them with my joy and life and memories and love.
And now to see them empty again chills me in ways I can't describe.
Now I leave a portion of my life there all alone
And so I cry and so I weep
even though my tears won't keep
the happy haunting thoughts out of my mind,
and so a part of me will die
in memories I leave behind;
a scar forever cut into my mind.
There is a point, though where you have to draw the line, where you have to call it quits. The second to last step, I like to call the opening of cupboards. It's where you go through the place and open every closet and cupboard and drawer, and once you're sure that it's completely empty, you leave it open. Anything that isn't open, obviously hasn't been checked yet.
The last step is the closing of doors. One by one you check every room and once you're sure that it's empty, you close all the cupboards and closets, turn the lights off, and shut the door. Typically it's best to do this from the furthest corner of the house toward the front door. Once all the lights are off and the doors closed, then you're as close as you can ever possibly be to having everything moved out.
If you're anything like me, though, there's another step. It involves sitting alone in the front room before you leave for the last time and crying for a while.
~
I saw an empty shell today where once my life had been:
a wire frame of things that were that never would again;
and though I wish for things that were that won't and never again will be,
still I envision myself there happy and content.
And so I'll cry and so I'll weep
even though my tears won't keep
the happy haunting thoughts out of my mind,
and bold I'll go and bold my stride
despite the many tears I've cried
my life will go on though inside I've died.
A thousand rooms so bare when first to see them I did come.
I filled them with my joy and life and memories and love.
And now to see them empty again chills me in ways I can't describe.
Now I leave a portion of my life there all alone
And so I cry and so I weep
even though my tears won't keep
the happy haunting thoughts out of my mind,
and so a part of me will die
in memories I leave behind;
a scar forever cut into my mind.