No more purging!

Quote du jour: The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. - is sure to be noticed.
- Søren Kierkegaard

I come by my pack rat tendencies honestly -- I inherited them. When I moved up to Oregon, my mother sent me a box of personal papers (birth certificate, baptismal record, etc.).

I was touched that even after bringing seven other children home from the hospital (and giving birth to another one who never made it home), she'd still saved every single scrap of paper that she'd been given in the hospital, all the birth information, hospital bill (she spent four days in the hospital, it cost $7, thank you USAF), and every single "Congratulations on the birth of your child" card.

Until I started looking at the cards, and found that some of them were "Congratulations on the birth of your son!" and mentioned the name of #7 child. And there was a birth announcement from 17 years earlier on the birth of #1 child. Also, she'd included the summer school report card from #2 child, and the Band and Orchestra report card from #4 child. Basically, the contents (except for the one about #1 child) were collected the year I was born, or from a couple years before that, and dumped in the box.

(The birth announcement re #1 child had been sent to my grandmother, who'd saved it for 18 years and then sent it back to my mother. Presumably it was intended for #1 child, but ended up being saved in my box for another... well... 47 years.)

It's not my fault that I create little time capsules of paperwork and carry them around with me for decades. It's heredity.

[Note: also, of course, my mother was working full-time and had 8 children living at home, i.e. she came home and worked too. I only work one job.]

Goal of the month: This is the last day of the 30-day Purge. I think I can say I survived. I would like to say I feel freer, but really all I feel is relieved. And unlike Kierkegaard, I don't miss all the stuff that I've been holding onto for so long. The stuff probably doesn't miss me either.
Done!




Exercise du jour:
200 Squats Challenge
13
13
18
18
13
13
13
max (at least 34)
Done! And, may I say, @#!$%$!#@!!!!! Thank you. I needed to say that. I might need to repeat this week. That was only 135 squats. Felt like 535 instead.


An extra star for making NaBloPoMo, 30 days straight of blogging.



HBBC:
Today, I was good. Well, good for me.
20 minutes yoga, 20 ellipticalling, 3 miles walked, veggies consumed.
6