Emotions in Boxes

As I sit here among tons of boxes, I feel many different emotions as we get ready to move:

Overwhelmed: I feel like no matter how many boxes we pack up, there are still many more to go. It's amazing what you can accumulate over a matter of only 2 years in one place! John already made a trip, with a very large load, to Goodwill, and we're going to take another one here soon. Good grief!

(a little) Sad: Although mostly ready to move, I am a bit sad to be leaving a place where we've made so many memories- learning to live with each other as newly weds, hanging out for hours with new friends that became close friends, taking home our daughter to her first room...good memories.

Content: I'm feel so blessed with a happy daughter who sleeps well (when she's on her normal schedule) so we can get a lot done, blessed with a spouse who has helped pack up so much stuff (and doing it the way I'd prefer it...organized in categories in boxes and labeled and not just tossed in big black garbage bags (story for another time)), and blessed with the fun we've had packing- laughing and goofing off together- it's been wonderful.

Excited: For a fresh start in many ways. Although the place we're moving to is nicer (thanks Custers ;)) it has considerably less storage space. We have had to purge so much stuff and really re-evaluate whether some of the stuff we have is necessary or just taking up space. Much of what we have stored is just extra stuff---mugs from over the years like the one from Mount Rushmore I got when I was 10, books we haven't seen or read since we've moved here, vases, duplicates of things like george foreman grills, and the list goes on. It has felt so good to simplify and get rid of stuff. I'm also ready to get better at my routine. I know that it's something I'll always be working on, but I started feeling more motivated right before we began packing up and when you're getting ready to move, a good routine kinda goes out the window.

So, I think that more than anything, I'm ready for a change and a fresh start.