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The Will to Get it Done

God knows where I found the will to continue organizing on Saturday afternoon, February 1; My beloved Karl was committed to unpacking the boxes from 2007-2008 that we’d stacked for him, and his presence supported my own in continuing to get-it-done (unpacking and categorizing remaining 2007-2008 boxes in the basement). For three hours I focused […]

Island Disappearing Act

Boxes from the years 2007, 2008, and 2009 were stacked high on two palettes (4’w x 7’l x 5’h) for five years (since our 2009 move-in). A 3-hour organizing session with a professional organizer yesterday helped me to get started with dismantling this mountain (see a before photo at my earlier post, “Unpacking the Past”). […]

Transforming Trauma, Becoming Whole: 6 of 43 Days

This week we achieved a level of order and harmony in the kitchen ne’er before conceived much less realized. We also continued unpacking 2007 boxes in the basement. Each 3-hour project has brought a greater feeling of being settled in the home we’ve occupied for five years. At the same time, touching again the physical […]

Time-Bomb Trauma Trigger Defused

We are one week into a 3-month organizing project that targets boxes packed and moved quickly in 2007 (and unopened since that time). Feeling good about our progress this week, I decided to venture down to the basement boxes myself today for a couple of hours prior to watching Syracuse v. Miami men’s college hoops. […]

Transforming Trauma, Becoming Whole: 3 of 43 Days

This week we made usable again a small home office and a hallway closet. We also cleared one basement shelving rack of 2007 boxes. Getting started was emotionally difficult, but the results realized have kindled a spirit of success, positive expectations, and a strengthened resolve. Day 1 of 43: Office Transformed (3 hours) Problem: The […]

Peeling off the Band-aid

Ouch! That hurt! Today we dismantled another closet filled with bags and boxes from the time I unexpectedly became a full-time family caregiver and watched my life-at-that-time disintegrate. Opening this chapter again felt raw as I unpacked the contents of these bags for the first time since 2007. During the eighteen months I was a […]