In the still of the early morning darkness, I found I was limited in what I could accomplish. I reached for my phone and discovered it was not under my pillow. Not wanting to awaken the General, I opted to go on a scavenger hunt through the house.
Since my phone didn’t appear to be in our bedroom, I probably left it on the island in the kitchen. I checked email shortly before going to bed last night. No such luck.
I checked my pants pockets from the day before and came up short. Could I have left my phone in my truck? The possibility existed. We had opted for “carry-out” for our evening meal. No such luck. It wasn’t there.
I started the scavenger hunt at 4:37 a.m. At 6:00 a.m., I was still clueless. Knowing that my alarm was set for 6:05, I made my way back to the bedroom. Presto, the alarm sounded shortly after I walked through the door. The sound was coming from the direction of my grandfather’s trunk. I’m using the trunk as a nightstand on my side of the bed.
It defied logic. I had failed to see the telephone when I looked earlier. I had used my hand to feel for it in the darkness, but obviously didn’t locate it. I made a mental note for future reference. I don’t want to duplicate the experience.
We are over a week-in into unpacking boxes from the garage. When I inventory the boxes that continue to be unopened, I’m overwhelmed. Where are we going to put all of this stuff? We haven’t needed it or seen it in at least 21 months.
The General verbalizes that we need to get rid of our excess baggage so our children won’t have to. That is also known as: “I need to eliminate my stuff.” Trust me, I must tread lightly here, lest I figuratively emerge with a black eye. My suggesting that we have too many mementos that belonged to her parents won’t serve me well. My only hope is that at least we have attic storage.
The one thing that I’m finding much to my surprise is a shortage of books. For years the General has said I needed to eliminate old books from my library. The way I see it, if a book was good enough to read once, I might enjoy reading it a second time. I don’t throw away books.
One of the books I want to read again is “Three Weeks With My Brother,” written by Nicholas Sparks. Unlike Sparks other books that are fiction, this one is autobiographical. I highly recommend it.
It probably is faulty thinking, but I was in Chicago when the movers came to move our things from our previous home to the storage facility in Dripping Springs. Is it possible that the General opted to cull what she considered old books from the inventory? Something tells me that she wouldn’t do that. On the other hand, maybe the possibility exists? What other explanation for the book shortage exists?
Of course, we have boxes and boxes of framed photographs and other momentos. If push comes to shove, they could occupy some of the empty bookcase shelves. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I’d prefer to have my books.
The General might be tempted to say that we have too many book cases. I build the one in the picture for my parents for Christmas one year. When they no longer needed it, I opted to keep it. Maybe, the General and I both have the same issue?
All My Best!
Don
Carpe Diem 