Clump #67:  Take down bus card.

This is one of the smallest clumps to be documented.  But its significance is weighty.  My younger daughter has been away at college for over a year.  I should be well adjusted to the status of empty-nester. But I never quite got around to taking down her last bus card from the refrigerator, reminding me of pick-up and drop off times, her high school senior year home room teacher and room number.  My days are no longer structured within the confines of the comings and goings of yellow buses.  I see them driving around and am reminded that I’m not part of that world any longer … for better and for worse, happier and sadder.

Our refrigerator is relatively uncluttered, so this remnant from days past is not annoying or hurting anyone. It does, however, betray that I’m not fully living in the present.  Time to rip off the bandaid and embrace the now.

I have spent the last couple of days helping with clumps of other people’s things, sorting out the toy room for our Quaker Meeting’s Fall Festival.  Before:

And After:

After so much contact with kids’ toys, that empty-nest thing is feeling pretty good!