As The Picture Crumbles

Trey Smith

Those of you who have gone through a major move -- especially one that involves a drastic downsizing -- know what I'm going through right now. I diligently have been working on this project for the entire month and, as November moves closer, we are less than one week away from our moving sale. Almost all of the culling and packing is complete. My focus this week is to sort and prepare the items we hope to sell as well as to begin the major cleaning phase (which will go into full gear AFTER the sale).

I liken this project to a jigsaw puzzle in a frame. At the beginning, all the pieces were in place and the picture was that of our home in South Bend. Little by little, I have removed bits of the overall picture. At first, those parts removed were around the fringes. The picture of home still predominated. As I have progressed, that picture has become very fuzzy. For quite some time, the picture sort of resembled home, but it was obvious that something was seriously amiss.

Now that I am within 2 weeks of vacating the premises, the frame (the house itself) remains much the same. The picture (home), however, is missing almost all of its pieces! I putter around as always, but I am increasingly puttering around in place that looks and feels foreign to me. The only space left in the house that closely resembles its former self is my office -- the computer room. Every other room has been stripped of its hominess.

I will take a day trip to Ocean Shores today or tomorrow to ferry more of our belongings up north. Jaz and the vacuum cleaner will return to South Bend with me. On Thursday, I will go fetch Della and Lily. From Thursday afternoon through Saturday night, our little family will be back in our house for the moving sale. Though we all will be here, it will no longer feel like home. For one last time, we will be embracing the frame...that now lacks the picture that once went with it.