Well, we’re here.  Knee-deep in boxes, packing paper and disorganization.  With the little ones underfoot (or, more recently, clinging to the back of both my legs), packing is going along at a glacial speed.  We will get there eventually.

While I was packing up the apartment, I jotted down some sentiments that came to mind.  It was a tad emotional to box everything up, and thankfully, I had the time to go through and sort through things before I packed up.  This was ideal, since the concept of packing things that I’m going to throw any anyways was a little annoying.

The resultant feeling was a little like Pesach cleaning – a thorough clean-up.  As I was weeding, I found things I thought I would use but didn’t, like the Agudah Tehillim calendar from 2008-9, and the zillion wedding invitations I kept (to my own wedding, that is).

• Things I liked:  looking through my wedding guest book, finding the note of kavannos I had under the chuppah!

• Things I tossed:  thank you cards from friends and acquaintances (sorry), congratulatiory cards from my engagement/wedding/birth of my first child.  Early labor list, nursing and diaper chart from my firstborn (What?  who keeps that?).  Family pictures from when my oldest was a baby that I never sent out ’cause I wasn’t organized enough.  Chaval.

• Things I kept:  cards from my husband.  :) half-used notebooks (that I was really tempted to throw out in a fit of purging)

I’m glad I actually took the time to shed the excess paper items and whatnot.  I’m also glad that I took the time to be fairly organized about what I packed.  Time will tell if it was helpful with my unpacking or not.  It was definitely helpful in my packing, because as I was boxing it all up, I had the feeling of organizing my life, and of control and calmness.  That was cool.