The Calm Before the Storm

We've driven to the edge of the cliff, and we're peering over the edge.

After a year-and-a-half of thinking, dreaming, worrying, and meeting with builders, we're about to launch a major remodeling project at home, sweet home.

We've heard all the warnings: your marriage will be sorely tested by this. Not to whistle past the graveyard, but we've been married for 30 years, raised two kids, moved 15 times, kept four dogs (three simultaneously), dealt with the illness and loss of a parent, etc. I'm pretty sure we'll make it out the other side of this, too.

Right now, before the wrecking bars start tearing out the old so the new can be built, we face a fundamental challenge: how to get rid of all this crap. We're getting to know the guy at the Goodwill drop-off place pretty well, and the people at the Friends of the Library book donation room roll their eyes when they see us coming with yet another load of books.

We're trying to send as little to the dump as possible. E-waste goes to the e-waste place, old paint and bug spray to the toxic-waste place, and so on. But some things just aren't easy to unload. Nobody wants the aging sofa and chair, stuffing oozing from their innards. I did finally find some interest in the enormous entertainment center by posting a listing on Freecycle, a cool people-to-people way of moving unwanted things along the line.

Of course, the entertainment center still hasn't been removed from the family room as I write this, and the clock is ticking louder each day.