It’s actually hard to grasp that it’s done. But it is!
Friday morning Trouble 2 and Audrey vacated my storage unit in Seattle. They brought the sack with the Tempure Pedic mattress and the three storage boxes to the room on 15th and Marion they are renting for their stay.
I had been preparing. Already a week ago I had digged out my Seattle note book. On the last page the list with everything I kept in Seattle.
This is one of my things. I need to prepare. I need to be as ready as I can be. This counts for difficult things as well as fun. But of course difficulties needs a higher level of preparation.
So, that first evening with the list in my Seattle note book I was reading every item. Slowly. Feeling them. The Kalaloch sweatshirt bought on our first stay at the lodge. The cereal bowl from my Boyer Avenue home. The multicolor thick beach blanket - how many afternoons in Gaswork Park? The grayish green knitted halter neck tank from the Fremont market, so special to me.The ice tea pitcher, brand new from my last stay telling I was planning on coming back many times. And so on. My itinerant Seattle home.
Swedes dress in light colors in the summer. We completely change our wardrobe in a way Seattleites don’t. Personally I love white. I’m a white lady. Complemented with pastels and some bright surprises.
Wearing those colors in Seattle makes you an exclamation mark in the beige/grey wardrobe of the Emerald City. I’ve always found it odd how bright the city is and how dimmed the inhabitants dress. But my home grown analyzes is that the nine months a year of wet and grey skies and ground sticks in the soul, reflecting the dress code.
The first years in Seattle I stuck to my Swedish summer colors. I was still a tourist. But as time went by I noticed myself picking up beige tanks at Nordstrom Brass Plum as well the finest latte shades of silk blends at Banana Republic. I was becoming a Seattleite. I wasn’t comfortable being an exclamation mark in my new home town any more.
The clothes I’ve been keeping in my storage have all been the Seattle palette. I wouldn’t even wear them in Sweden. It’s something about the quality of the summer light here that doesn’t work with fifty shades of beige.
Therefore, in this separation I was about to go through, I was thinking of giving away my favorite Seattle clothes. That’s what I was preparing for. Going through the list once more. But in the hours before the actual clean out this Friday I changed my mind. What if? What if I at some point will be able to return to Seattle one last time? And my Seattle clothes are gone. There is always that hope… No, I would have Trouble 2 and Audrey bring them back to Sweden, I would put them in a special box and just keep them.
At my 8PM I waived to Trouble 2 and Audrey over Skype. Hi there! Look at that downtown view from you window, wow! And then: okay, lets do this!
We sorted all my things in four piles: back to Sweden, throw away, Zoe and Becca - would they like this?, and keep in Seattle. Oh, yes, I forgot, my dearest Matt and Elizabeth had most kindly offered a corner somewhere in their Capitol Hill home to store my mattress!!
Trouble 2 is a quite slow and methodical young man, Audrey the exact opposite. Together we went through box after box. The U.S. domestic mail sack where I am keeping my mattress is a magical storage, this I know since before. And in the end “we” managed to squeeze in not only the blow dryer, electric tooth brush and the beach blanket, but also the top 5 of my Seattle summer wardrobe into the sack!
So this was successful indeed! Also, I did not go all emotional but went through this event cheery and without shedding a tear. I was quiet proud of myself I have to say.
I know for sure this would not have been possible without my mental preparation. Grieving my things in beforehand, so to speak. And of course not without Trouble 2 and Audrey’s good spirit, for which I am very grateful.
So, now I don’t have a storage in Seattle anymore. Check! And I feel lighter. But there is more to come…
No comments:
Post a Comment