Done packing

It's like deja vous all over again. I'm done packing, sitting here on the couch with my last possession that isn't in a box or bag, my laptop.

I'm looking at all the stuff in the handy Sterilite totes. They're all stacked neatly in a row, biggest ones on the bottom and lightest on the top.

Two things come to mind which are completely contradictory: 1. I have too much stuff. 2. I don't have much stuff.

Over the course of the week I've been packing things up. I held off the "essentials" until today, which mostly meant cookware, the radio, that sort of thing. The laptop packs up so easily, I'm not so concerned about that.

So that leaves me thinking that I must not really need that other stuff. (OK, the clothes that I packed on Monday and delivered to the new place Wednesday are necessary. I'll give you that no one wants to see me walking around without those.)

So much of the other stuff just seems like clutter, though. I'll have to decide if "sentimental" items really need to follow me or if my memories are good enough.

On the other hand, I'm looking at everything in these boxes and thinking how little it really is. The entire area they're using can't be more than 8x8 and perhaps five feet high (excluding bigger pieces of furniture). That really isn't all that much accumulated over a 29-year lifespan, is it?

So I feel good and bad. I consider myself something of a minimalist, where I don't need a whole lot of things to be happy. (Just an Internet connection and a laptop, and I'll be mostly happy.) So I'm glad I don't have more than that, but I also wonder if I could do with less.

I suppose there's something about the holidays that just makes me feel guilty about what I have, so I have to reason out whether I deserve it or should have it.

I'm sure I'll ponder this more tomorrow night, as I begin the pain-in-the-neck process of unpacking, which is worse in my opinion.