The result of a fun-filled summer is often a house that looks – well, the phrase “lived in” might be too kind. I’ve been traveling so much this summer that any cleaning I’ve done has consisted mostly of tossing stuff into the garage. My two oldest kids have been moving out gradually this month, taking what they need from the stuff in the garage, but still, we ended up with piles of miscellaneous junk out there.
So that’s what I spent my weekend doing. I filled up trash bins, drove two carloads of usable stuff to the Salvation Army, and basically got rid of anything in the garage that isn’t absolutely necessary. As I was sorting through stuff, I’d say to myself, “Okay, if two grad students didn’t want this, then why would I?”
The garage isn’t completely empty, of course. I can’t get rid of the snowtires, or the tents, or the bicycles. I’m keeping the ice chests, the snowboards, and the bocce balls. I’m going to need that lawn mower and that wheelbarrow. We don’t have a basement or an attic, so we do use the room for storage. But still, I’ve got a lot more space in there then I did on Friday. Tonight, I kept walking out into the garage just to admire my work.
I admit that my weekend wasn’t all cleaning. I went to the farmers’ market with my parents Saturday morning, I had a supper picnic with my husband and two youngest sons at Pretty Colour Lake last evening, and I drove out this morning to the retreat place where I’ll be taking students later this month. But still, that was my biggest accomplishment of the weekend: I cleaned the garage.
And just in time. Classes on our campus start tomorrow. Fall semester is here.
