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 Now and Then

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Then

My oldest daughter had a month break from school and on Sunday it sadly came to an end. The Big Packing Event began sometime Saturday afternoon and continued up until the time she left on Sunday. I am still not sure why so many pairs of shoes and outfits had to come home for Christmas. I guess she is 100% girl and all of those things are like a security blanket. 

The Man of the House and I have had cleaning out the attic on our To Do list forever....embarrassingly too long. On Sunday we planned to spend a little time up there, to sort of get the ball rolling and hope to finish up over the next few weekends. There is A LOT of stuff to go through. It is stacked, crammed and unorganized. After taking inventory I realize that the majority of the stuff is child related, whether it be stuffed animals, toys, snow boots (unworn because it never snows here), clothes, furniture and so on. We have enough Little Tikes inventory up there to start a daycare! I have a hard time letting go of these things because I know their story. I remember exactly where they were all purchased or who gave it to us, which princess it belonged to and where it was worn. I for some reason just can't seem to remember to make the long over due doctor's appointment but I can remember the look on the little princesses when they unwrapped that toy that now sits in the attic all alone. I remember the look on their faces as they rounded the corner on Christmas morning discovering all of those things. I tucked in all of those stuffed animals as the princesses snuggled with them many years ago. I remember it all, or should I say, I feel it all. Although these are just things, junk to a lot of people, they bring back so many sweet memories for me and so many feelings. So perhaps I should understand my daughter a little more when it comes to HER security blankets (aka all of those  shoes she carts back and forth from school), the stuff that makes her feel good. The stuff in our attic is our history, it is MY security blanket. It is what makes me feel good. I guess that makes me 100% mom.

While I was in the attic I was going through a bag of  clothes....little princess clothes...trying to decide what I could part with and what I had to keep.  I could hear #1 below me, moving around in her room, while she packed up her things for school. I had one of those mom moments while holding up a little Kelly's Kids jumper that every one of my children wore.

 It was so tiny and sweet. I envisioned #1, one floor below me, holding up something and trying to decide if she could bare to leave home without it. There are many years that fall between those two pieces of clothing that we happened to be holding up at the same time. There was just one floor between us, but in that instance, so many years. Where did all the time go? Who stole all the years between that Kelly's Kids jumper and that college sweatshirt? All of those years are packed away, up there in the attic. Treasures no doubt!

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