A Sentimental Journey

Granny Hat promised her readers a post about Packing Smart. She should have written months ago on this topic, back when she WAS “packing smart”; back when each box had a category and maybe a room it was destined for, back when her list was organized, numbered and detailed. Lately, Granny has been throwing things willy nilly into boxes; mixing things like BBQ equipment and pillows from the bedrooms, glass pitchers and pillows from the couch, lamps and pillows from the other couch. Pillows make great protective packing material and maybe that is as close to packing smart as Granny will get.

Now that she is nearing the 300 box mark, Granny realizes that in spite of months of purging, trips to the thrift store, two colossal yard sales and multiple dump runs, she and dad are more Sentimental than Smart. They are still taking way too much stuff to their new home. Every piece of wall art has a story in their home of over 38 years. Every map and travel brochure has a timeless memory. Books are inscribed by beloved givers. Each item of furniture is either from their childhood or handed down from someone special. It all brings them joy! There is simply no way to just coldheartedly walk away from these ties that bind…….or is there?

After Granny Hat’s better and stronger half took the first load 1300 miles north to Big Sky Country, the idea of self-moving began to lose its charm. The first thing Dad did when the empty trailer drove in was to load it to the gills for yet another dump run. Perhaps packing smart means learn as you go, listen to your head instead of your heart for a change. Make the tough choices! Easier said than done. The heart wins every time.

Dad had a stellar crew of customers/friends that helped him load the piano onto the trailer. He will miss them very much.

Granny has a new, sentimental list started: You Can’t Take It With You! Here are just the first few that come to mind, the list is growing daily.

  1. Friends and family!
  2. The beautiful train murals her friends Tricia and Lisa painted when her youngest child was born:
A train very like this one pulls into the White Fish, Montana train station every day with mountains in the distance and all!

3. The famous San Juan Bautista Sweet Peas, hopefully Granny Hat can close her eyes and still smell them years from now.

  • the sweet peas of San Juan

Granny Hat is thankful she has been granted plenty of time to pack AND reminisce, to thank God for the joys of living in Central Coast California and for the joys that are to come in a new valley with different flowers and four seasons. She realizes that the word SENTIMENTAL, has both “sentiment” and “mental” combined. She has had plenty of days full of “mental” but the best moving advice Granny Hat can give is that Sense and Sensibility are both needed when packing smart!

Next: Moving Can Be Scary !

5 thoughts on “A Sentimental Journey”

  2. I needed to read this, even as I contemplate downsizing–again. I could pitch the baby AND the bathwater, but it ain’t worth the room we’ll save in a container. Thank you for your sense and sensibility. If only I could jettison pride and prejudice instead of packing it with me everywhere I go…

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  3. My heart goes out to you. If you love it too much, don’t leave it! I did pretty good when we moved. I only took one carload to the Goodwill after I got here. But I have neighbors who have said, “Oh, I wish I had not left such ‘n such ….”, and another neighbor who passed away and it took her cousin and me, working 3 months, to clear out a 10×12 ft storage, an 1,500 sq.ft. two bedroom apt. and sell three cars! It sounds like you are doing pretty good!

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