It has begun. Again.

Even before I met Denis I went through this process many times, I just seem to do it more frequently now. This time will be our biggest downsize since leaving the boat when we started our journey. It is a good thing to do for almost everyone, it is so easy to collect stuff, cheap easily replaced stuff and also expensive or valuable stuff that no longer serves a purpose and only depletes your energy caring for said stuff. The hard part is the stuff we have attachments to, I think I will be letting go of a few things I did not intend on parting with this time, but they to will go to make room for the most irreplaceable things. The hand made and very thoughtful gifts we never expected but are so priceless now, our tent, my Canada Goose Coat and some important paperwork will not be on the cutting list, it will be interesting what makes it to Canada.

My target? Denis, Lily and myself get two bags for under the plane July 22, two carryons and Lily’s car seat. The two bags for under the plane can weigh no more than 50 pounds each. My dear mom has already taken a bag home for us when she came to visit in February, so a bunch of Lily’s stuff has already gone, that was helpful. It can be daunting but I love it, today I started getting rid of my clothes that are damaged or have not been used in months. Purging out the material clutter in our life, we become, physically and spiritually, lighter.

On a completely different topic, today was the first hot day since we gave up ice cream, Denis is making dinner because all I can think of is ice cream. It’s been weighing on my mind for a few hours, getting steadily worse and walking in from planting the beans and carrots I wanted to call out to Denis “want an ice cream?”.  I’d been trying to think of what to make for dinner and all I could come up with was a cone would not be big enough so a large banana split might be more suitable. I wonder if I did not have Denis in my life, if at some point today I might have cracked and eaten all the ice cream I could get my hands on. It is such a gift to have someone to walk with through life with.

Sometimes it seems harder to get stuff done with so many distractions but it is also easier to stay strong with someone there to support me. We both agree life is so very different and good since Lily joined us, we laughed that with out her in our life I probably would have graduated school a year earlier but that is a tiny price to pay for the magic she brings.

Here is a bit of gardening fun we’ve shared in the last two days.

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