Yard “Sale” Give-Away!!!

Not a dime was charged for anything I had to offer. Almost everything was taken. Giving everything away for free felt 1000x more satisfying than the few bucks I could have or would have made for the day (and nearly everything is now gone, too!). Of course, I wasn’t able to sort all my life’s possessions in time for the free yard “sale,” so I may be having another similar “sale” some time soon .

Highlight of the day: when a young man who was raised partially in a homeless shelter took a crisp, clean suit jacket offered freely: “Great!” he said, “I’ll use this for my job interview this coming week!”
Thanks so much, Barbara Richardson, for use of your front yard!!  — feeling awesome.

I’m now deep into a very laborious personal project. Over the course of the years and the thousands of miles, something which has nothing to do with walking, and which I didn’t physically carry with me, nonetheless weighed down upon me from afar. I left all of my material stuff at home, with my parents. My many shelves of books, all of the clothes I didn’t bring with me on the road, furniture that I hadn’t given away, photographs, childhood love letters, even my 2nd grade report card with the personalized message from the heroic Mr. Barry.
Across the years and the miles, I’ve almost never “missed” any of these possessions, and I know that I can easily do without nearly every one of them. That said, when I open the boxes and find the postcard collection I worked on throughout my childhood and into my adult years, when I hold the two fuzzy blankets that Grandma knitted me as a child, when I wear the familiar clothing, when I see the old letters, drawings, and so much more, I can’t help but feel some serious paralysis in making those necessary stay-or-go decisions.
Fortunately, my parents are allowing me to continue to keep a smaller amount of my possessions, and I’m finding a plethora of papers that can either be recycled or otherwise economically archived. Otherwise, as I narrow down clothing and other personal items to a fraction of the volume they once occupied, before placing any such item into the give-away, throw-away, or recycle boxes, I often initially feel that I’m giving away something important and valuable. However, as soon as over 99% of the items reach either of those boxes, the personal attachment seems to just shrivel and die. Consequently, I quickly feel marginally more light and free with each extra item that fills each of those this-one-goes boxes– even a bit more “clean” as well .
While most of my possessions hold more sentimental value to me than any material value, I’m still planning on having a garage sale before leaving town (Aug. 04). Instead of calling it a garage sale, I’m thinking of instead calling it a “garage giveaway.” I’d love to simply give away nearly everything I’m not keeping. I may leave a donation box if anyone wishes to deposit, but otherwise I’ll be happy just to find good homes for much of which I’ve collected over the course of nearly 38 years on Planet Earth
I wasn’t really looking forward to this– I faced it the way I would face many marathon-long days filled with hills and no roadside shoulders– beginning with a “let’s get this over with” attitude. Deep into the process now, I also predict I’ll feel the same as I do once those back-breaking marathon days are completed: like I’ve made a huge stride forward, accomplishing something great and worthy.  ;)

Just a fraction of all the “stuff” I have to go through…