No, I am not dying.

It all started with having the outside hurricane roll-up shutters removed; then all the windows were replaced with double-pane hurricane windows.  Some of the window sills inside in the living room and dining room needed repair which would require painting.   We might as well have those rooms painted; if we did that we might as well have the kitchen and cabinets done and that led to the entrance, hall, bedrooms and bathrooms.  OK, the whole house needed painting inside.   Before we could have it painted, we needed to address a couple of cracks in the doorway of the bathroom in our bedroom.  That required foundation work according to an engineer. 

Thus began our adventure in home repair!  Remember the movie, The Money Pit, with Tom Hanks?  Two weeks!  Some days we felt as if we were living in that movie.

A crew came to do drywall repair inside before the painters came.  For that we took everything off the walls, moved small furniture to the garage and pulled the furniture that was left to the middle of the rooms.  I also had to unload my book cases and box a lot of stuff.

That brings me to death cleaning . In  Margareta Magnusson’s book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning:  How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter, she explains that in Sweden “there is a kind of de-cluttering called döstädning, dö meaning ‘death’ and städning meaning “cleaning.”  It implies disposing of a loved ones things when he or she dies but also means making life easier for yourself by keeping less and realizing possessions may not be that important.

After forty-two years in the same house, we have accumulated a lot stuff!  It has been like moving in place as we evaluate what we want to keep and what should go.  I am sentimental and want to keep everything yet I truly want to de-clutter. Two bookcases and one wine rack were the first to go.  Daughter and Son will each take one of my father’s clocks.  Who will want that wooden art that I brought back from Nassau years ago?  They will probably fight over it.   I let go of some books but can’t l can’t part with most of my old friends, especially my collection of Victor von Hagen and John Lloyd Stephens books.

The house was new when our family of four moved in forty-two years ago.  It  now has new windows, a stronger foundation and new paint inside.  And perhaps less clutter and a fresher look.  But the memories will remain – holidays, birthdays, challenges, loss, triumphs, laughter, tears, dreams, anger, rebellion, love, joy, peace and most of all hope for the future.  Cheers!

(In her blog, “Muddling Through My Middle Age,” Ann Coleman  wrote about helping to move her mother from a home with generous space to a one bedroom in assisted living.  She titled it:  Moving Forward.  Getting rid of “stuff” was not as easy as she expected.)