7-24-17

Today was the day I’d been dreading all week. After cleaning up the bedroom the other day, I had to take yesterday off to recuperate. But I was back at it today, working in Dan’s closet, hoeing through old clothes that had been hanging there since we’d moved them there a dozen years ago. And before that, they’d probably been moved here from New York, so it was time for Dan’s wardrobe to be evaluated and purged. Since Dan can’t let go of even a pair of socks so holy his toes wave through, today’s gift was doing it for him while he is away.

I started with the shoes and clearing off the floor. Ten pair (or was it eleven?) of shoes later, I was able to see the floor – sort of. I found six different empty shoe boxes, each with varying degrees of debris inside, and more junk on the floor than I imagined possible. But I kept on going, figuring I was going to finish if it killed me. Once I could see and walk on the floor, I started going through the clothes on hangers, throwing out over 70 wire hangers. I’m not even sure where those came from, maybe Dan’s old school uniforms. Either way, I couldn’t help but think of Joan Crawford with all those damned wire hangers.

When it was all over, I’d plugged up the vacuum cleaner at least three times, sorted, bagged, and folded everything, and I now have a trunk with 43 pairs of Dan’s pants to be donated to Mustard Seed. That doesn’t count the four pair in the laundry basket by his bed or the five he has with him on his trip, so it’s not like he’s been neglected in the area of trousers. And since he’s not here, it’s a real gift to him from my heart because I don’t think he’ll really even have a clue of the scope of this monumental gift. But I know, and it’s partly a gift to me, too. After all, I can now walk into the bedroom, get to the bathroom without having to navigate obstacles, and I can even stop in Dan’s closet to put away the shoes I’m sure he’ll leave on the floor the moment he gets home.

And then I’ll start looking forward to next year’s purge week.