For days now, I’ve been attempting to sort through at least a decade’s worth of ruffage. You know, all the little odds and ends and papers and “memories” we pile up without realizing it. I’m still not done. But, if I’ve learned anything, I’ve learned this: It gets easier.

I’m a die-hard keep media in the boxes kind of person. Even though it takes up a million times more space, I’ll keep my movies in their cases ’til my dying day. Two days ago, on impulse, I took all of my CDs and corresponding inserts out of their cases and put them in a binder. At first, I’ll admit, it was just to test the waters. I mean, the cases were still there if I changed my mind. But then I did something remarkable. I grabbed a garbage bag and swept all the empty, plastic shells in.

At first I had to fight the urge to get them back out and put everything back the way it was supposed to be. As I forced myself to move on to other projects, it became easier and easier. Today, I caught myself eyeing the ever-growing movie collection. I won’t do it because John and I have our reasons for keeping them the way they are. Not the least of which is because it easily facilitates my neurotic propensity to agonize over alphabetization. But the point remains that it was something I wouldn’t have done last week.

Other things have happened, too. Today, as I went through childhood brick-a-brack, I found myself seriously asking: What will I do with this Friday? (For those of you that don’t know, Friday is the day we’re officially moving into my parents’ house.) A surprising number of items have thus been tossed or put in a giveaway box/pile.

So, today’s lessons were: Just because I can remember when I bought it and why I still have it, doesn’t mean I need to keep it for eternity. If it’s broken, it doesn’t have to be fixed. And if it was well-loved, it has the right to be loved by someone else.