It’s time to let go of photographs, 226/365

     That’s not really true. As I mentioned a few days ago, NO it’s not time to let go of family photographs. Today, however, it was time to organize the albums on the shelf and while doing so to let go of a few books and notebooks. What you see in the photo is a half-filled garbage bag, a half-filled grocery bag with books to go to the put-and-take, and some piles of books to get ride of or to read. It may not look like progress to you, but it feels like progress to me. With the organization I’ve just completed, I might be ready to go through the albums and get rid of duplicate pictures.  

It’s time to go, family photos, 225/365. NO, it’s not!

 It is hard to let go of family photographs. To some extent it’s an age issue, because really, who prints out photographs these days? Before we know it, getting rid of photos will happen almost solely by clicking ‘delete’. Hopefully, however, memories will give us pause when clearing out our iPhone or iPhotos.

     So here are our photo albums, a few from my childhood, most from our fifty years of parenthood. Of course, I could scan them into iPhotos!

    It just may be that getting rid of family photos remains in a category all by itself. Why should we even be expected to get rid of pictures of ourselves, our friends and families, or our specific life experiences.

      When I started this project, I thought that best I could do was box the photos and leave all decisions to future generations. But, no, I can’t even do that. The albums need to be left on the shelf for now. After all, I never know when I’ll need a picturesque memory.

Day 172/365 Its time to go, stuff on the street

As you can see, I haven’t written on this blog for a looooong time. But please, that doesn’t mean that we haven’t let go of stuff. As I wrote in cottagebythesea.net blog, it’s not that we’ve lost the desire, but we’re probably not as intentional as we were—and I got tired of writing it up.

     I’m not ready to let go of the blog, so here’s the cottage post. I’ll see what I can do, but not on a daily basis. 

Two years ago I started a blog IT’S TIME TO GO; LETTING GO OF STUFF  http://lettingofstuff.blogspot.com/. My husband and I had the intention of getting rid of one thing every day for an entire year. We did quite well, but then our commitment faded and I got tired of blogging about it. The desire is still there; I just wish I had a clone who was interested in doing all the work.

    On my walk the other day I was reminded that I am not alone in the challenge to let go of stuff. Along the side of the road, waiting for trash removal, was a plastic box, with “Mike, Photo Albums, Keep,” written on its side. Where are the photos? Did Mike toss them? Did his mother toss them? Have they been sorted and distributed? Have they been scanned?

     All these questions indicate just how difficult it is to let go of stuff. When we see treasures piled by the side of the road, we can be pretty sure a complex decision making process landed them there.