Past Lives

We spent yesterday unloading furniture from the trailer and moving it into Dave's parents' basement, where I photographed each piece and listed it all on Craigslist for sale. We also listed several items belonging to his parents. I'm handling all the listings and communication, to spare his parents all the spam and the headaches, and we already have several bites. If we're really lucky we'll get a few items sold before we leave tomorrow to visit some friends in western Michigan.

Dave dislikes this process more than I do. For me it's sort of fun to comb through things and purge. As I've mentioned many times before, I view it as a cleansing, an opportunity for a fresh start. But it can be tedious, and a lot of the stuff that Dave has stored here at his parents' belonged to his former partner, who passed away five years ago -- items as diverse as china and glassware, a huge record collection, office supplies and jewelry. Understandably it's harder for him to open up boxes and rediscover all those items.

In fact, we got a surprise back in New Jersey when we moved a dresser and found a hidden drawer. (Dave knew it was there but I had no idea, and I'd been using this dresser for more than a year.) The drawer was full of jewelry, identification and other items belonging to Bruce, his former partner. It was kind of like a visit from a ghost. We took the jewelry to a precious metals buyer and sold what was valuable, and I kept some European coins, figuring we might be able to spend them. I also kept a smooth, shiny pebble that probably had some significance to Bruce. I'm not sure why.

Still, we're moving nearly everything toward the Craigslist/future-yard-sale pile. What better opportunity to start fresh than moving to England?

(Photo: Shadows and reflections in our empty apartment, a few days before we left New Jersey.)