Clean up

The school year is about to start at the Sillin house.  The coursework has been planned, the pencils have been sharpened, the rubbery smell of new erasers and the crisp white sheets of fresh notebook paper await our arrival at the first day of school.  But something else has to happen before we can get started.  Call me old fashioned but late every summer, we spend about a week cleaning out the house.  Call it the last step before a fresh start. While the work is hard, the payoff is substantial.  I need to know that my house is in order before I can move into the next season. 


Tonight I, with my three helpers, cleaned out my two youngest children's room.  When I started I really didn't think it was that messy but in the process of cleaning we discovered:

57 assorted pens/pencils/markers/other writing utensils
25 batteries of various sizes (watch all the way to D cell)
2 bags of trash and a dresser that could no longer be justified as use able
1 basket of clothing that doesn't fit anyone
6 pairs of shoes (and a pair of cleats) that do not fit anyone
18 books
1 bag of goodwill toys
9 large toys that still have all their parts, but no one plays with any longer that I am permitted to sell.

Amazing how there IS room in there for them and ALL of their belongings
My youngest son says to me "Wow mom, my room seems a lot bigger."  Ya think?!?! I can't believe they were living with all that clutter. 

But isn't this what we all do?  First one thing out of place and then another, and before you know it the whole place is cluttered up.  It didn't seem so bad at first, just a few things out of place, but before you know it, you're feeling awfully crowded.  I'm not talking about your desk, or your nightstand, or even the dreaded junk drawer (which I confess occasionally overflows onto the counter at my house!)  No,  I am talking about the heart. 

There was that one small thing out of place, maybe it was a goal that you never accomplished, or a letter never written, a thank you overlooked, or an apology overdue.  Somehow that little bit of something out of place, has a way of becoming a room full of clutter. 
We could all probably root out a couple of bags of trash and an old dresser if we tried hard enough!  And that is the point, isn't it?  Before moving into the next season, the old has to go to make room for the new.   The cobwebs of the heart, the clothing that is too small, that old pair of cleats, (and who needs 57 things to write with?!?!)  ALL of that has to be moved out, packed up, sold off, and sometimes put out to the curb, before life can resume. 

Lessons from cleaning the room?  It's hard work, and it took longer and was more laborious than I thought it would be.   It was made much easier by having some good helpers.  The time when we wanted to quit the most was about 20 minutes before we actually finished.  There were some surprises along the way, both good and bad. 

Mason said he would sleep better tonight in his clean room.  Wouldn't we all sleep better with a clean room?