Clump #207:  Clear out kids’ activities container; take basement clump to Goodwill.

I saw this roadside display today!!  Not. At. All. Ready.

Here’s one payoff for confronting clumps of long forgotten stuff.  I looked into the box below, and — lo and behold — alongside pumpkin-decorating materials, there was the Santana “Supernatural” CD we’ve been missing for years!  Hooray!  The contents of the box dated from the time I was in charge of kids’ activities for our Quaker Meeting’s Fall Festival.  Santana and Rob Thomas’s song “Smooth” was my choice for a cake walk song no one could resist moving to.  “Man, it’s a hot one…”

This magazine photo (Martha Stewart Living?) had been my pumpkin decorating inspiration:

I loaded up the car again for another trip to the Goodwill.  Along with the non-yard-waste contents of the box were three cleaning devices I had bought in hopes that they’d charm our house into spotlessness.  Like Cinderella’s coach after midnight, they ended up, not pumpkins, but more clutter in our house.

I felt so much lighter after depositing this stuff at the Goodwill.  It reminded me of my Catholic upbringing and the way I’d feel after going to confession, even though I usually made up my sin list (is that in itself a sin?). “Take these, brother, for I have over-bought.  It has been two months since my last donation.”

The grace I seek now is forgiveness of myself … with God’s help.