Excess Baggage

A bit bleary eyed... the stuff is back! / And where is this supposed to go!?

Got it to fit... just... all 7.4 cubic metres

Thursday, February 9, 2012
After 3 1/2 months; on a ship from Vancouver to Melbourne, and then a truck to Sydney; our goods were delivered this past Tuesday. On the one hand, it was a little like Christmas... unwrapping layers of paper to find out what qas hidden underneath. Clothing!  Recipe books!  Then there was the dark side... the paperwork and files. Oh. Ugh. I thought I had left it behind in Canada, but it followed me here!!

Taking Care of Dad is the name of this blog... and taking care of dad is what I continue to do. Canadian tax season is upon us... and the joys of gathering all the necessary paperwork is here. Procrastination ... if you wait long enough, it catches up with you. Thus begins the scavenger hunt of tracking down all pertinent information to mail back to dad's accountant in Canada. Followed by my bookwork for self employment. Ah... you have to love February. (No putting off paperwork till March this year, as I have to get all the info back to Canada for the accountants to work on it.)

I was a little sad looking at all the boxes. Not to mention feeling a slight weight of responsibility. While it's all well and good to say... toss it out and start over... I am a little sentimental in that it would be nice to save some photo albums and memorabilia. Should my brothers have children someday; it would be nice to have some family history to pass on.

I know that I put off moving dad for as long as possible as it meant we would no longer have a family home. No one place for the family to gather... to use the familiar every day items, to browse through old photo albums, the furniture used to sit on and laugh adound, the pictures hanging on the wall.... The things we take for granted until they are no longer there. Not to mention my own items boxed up, waiting for me to get a life. The plates my friends are off at dinner parties, the items I used for baking. I still so involved in taking care of dad, I wonder when I will ever get to take them out of storage.

So it is taking a while to process. All the while, I know they are just things. At least that is what I am trying to get through my little brain! We carry our loved ones in our hearts.  Things are things. They come and go. They help make life easier, but they can drag us down!

I have rescued a few things out of our things to make us feel more at home... bedding for me, pictures for dad. While he barely has room to swing a cat in his new abode... there is some wall space where he can hang the photos that hung in his apartment in White Rock.

Life changes and we adapt. Some way. Some how.