The longest I've ever lived in any place (besides my parent's house) used to be one year.
I'd sign a year-lease and move out by the first of the thirteenth month or I'd cancel my lease early and have to pay all these penalty fees, including my deposit because of roommate issues (did I ever tell you story about how I went to Europe for a few weeks and came home to find my beloved goldfish floating belly up in a tank of beer? Or how about morning I woke up to a roommate naked on the foot of my bed, next to a neat little puddle of his own vomit? AND A GOOD MORNING TO YOU, SIR!) or neighborhood issues (did I ever tell you the story about the helicopter that landed on my roof c/o your basic garden variety drug bust? Or what about the time the neighborhood kilt-wearing flasher chased me to the front door of my apartment completely naked from the waist down? No?) or just because I found a greater deal on a greater apartment with more bang for the buckage.
That was up until we moved where we are currently living, more than three and a half years ago holy shit that's a long time.
One of the major pluses of moving every year is that it is impossible to accumulate stuff - one is basically forced to sort through and discard superfluous goods and items while packing for the move, which I love. And which up until yesterday I haven't had a reason to do.
No we're not moving. But Archer's twin bed did arrive and with it the fire under my ass to go through EEEEEEVVVVVERRRRYTHING to make room for Fable.
Since Fable's birth, she's been sleeping on our bed, sharing a dresser with me and a closet with Archer's walls (I've been hanging her dresses on the various hooks and nails around Archer's room because there's no closet in Archer's room.) Basically, Fable has yet to have any space of her own, including a crib. (Her crib is Archer's old crib which has been converted into a toddler bed for some time.)
Yesterday, when the twin mattress arrived to our no-space-place (the storage bed-frame will be here any day oy vey) I figured it was time to dig through dust-bunnies and get rid of everything that wasn't totally beloved.
Two hours later? I had eight trash-bags full of toys, stuffed animals, changing items, blankets and pajamas to donate to local shelter which HOLY SHIT! How in the...?
It was amazing. I had no idea we had accumulated so much crap over the years. I was stunned and a little bit disgusted by the accumulation of so many unnecessary things. When you have kids you are told you NEED all this stuff and it just isn't true. As evidenced with Fable and her lack of most baby items we had with Archer because we thought we had to have them.
I still have a lot of work to do with the rooms in terms of reorganizing, changing, even discarding. Hal and I will be switching rooms with Archer next week, so that there's enough room for him to share with Fable. (We're currently in the bigger room.)
I'm looking forward to our big move. To reorganizing Hal and my space into something cozy, more minimal. To setting up Fable's crib and Archer's bed, designing two unique spaces in the single bedroom the kids will be sharing. This time with the knowledge that when you have little space? Less is SO TOTALLY more.
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