Anniversary

Tomorrow Steve and I will have been married twenty-three years. That seems like forever and seems like just yesterday. He graciously offered for us to have a dinner date tonight and after all the going and coming of the last few months, I opted to cook for us instead. Secretly he was probably glad to not put on nice clothes on a Saturday night in this heat and go out. Anyway, we are going to Chicago next week and have a big vacation planned in September so there will be opportunities later.

He did ask what I wanted to do. I said – clear the closets in the garage. Steve actually has built himself a workshop in the larger one and he needed more work room.  I knew there was stuff in there that needed to be tossed (example – puppy stuff that Lucy would not use when she was a puppy much less now and old, out of date yard chemicals and car cleaning stuff).  So we got out and got after it pretty early. It was hot but not nearly as hot a yard work!!!!!

It was an interesting exercise. Besides the usual stuff you find, we found some things we had “put up” when we moved Steve’s folks the first time in October 2004. That was a difficult move from their house to assisted living not long after Steve’s Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and I am certain we just put stuff places so we could ensure Steve’s Mom we were not throwing everything away.  

Treasures unearthed today included:

Steve’s Dad’s dress clothes – why we would have put them in an open box in the garage closet is beyond me.  The (now) funny part of that is that in 2007 when he died, we knew we had “kept” his suit but could not find it. Of course we took care of what needed to be done but I did a lot of head scratching over than one. Needless to say after five years in the dirt and heat – were not in too good shape. My guess is Dad L got a chuckle out of that from heaven today.

Then we found Steve’s Dad’s copy of the folder with our wedding ceremony details. Our copy was lost (Ms Organization loaned them to someone to use as a guide and forgot to get them back AND does not remember who she loaned them to!) so now we have a copy!

We found the entire set of Christmas reindeer Steve’s Dad made.  We knew where two of them were and have them out front every year – we had all of them all the time and did not know it.

We found a small step up that he made that is perfect for JoJo to stand on to reach the sink when she is over here. Actually Steve’s Mom and Dad both would be pleased about that. Steve’s Dad never knew JoJo – he died right before she was born but Steve’s Mom loved her!

And we found an antique piano stool (round) he had reworked so now I have something that is the perfect height for sitting at my bathroom counter when doing makeup etc.

Pretty cool – huh?  And just think it was here all the time.  (We also tossed a lot of stuff, too, and that sort of purging feels good, too.)

I was reminded that today is a microcosm of life in general.  We look constantly for direction without looking in the right place to the Heavenly Father first. We often need to purge the junk in our lives by confessing that we have carried around all that baggage when it simply was not necessary. Good reminder and one I needed today. 

Still Choosing Joy!