We are packing right now and it's a struggle. Every item we pick up requires us to peer into the future to decide how useful it will be in a variety of settings. For example, our boxes have a duct tape color coding system that indicates the fate of each box. We have 5 colors:
- Purple: These boxes are going to be shipped to my parent's house in TN, to permanently stay in storage till we get back from Sierra Leone.
- Yellow: Shipped to TN, opened and used in TN (while we live there for a month), then subsequently shipped to Africa.
- Green: Shipped straight to Africa. But these boxes are sent by ship, and will arrive 2-6 months after we arrive. Each of these boxes needs the following data compiled in an excel sheet: 1) Replacement cost for the whole box, for insurance purposes. 2) Every item worth >$100 needs a specific line with Make, Model, Serial number, and replacement cost. 3) Resale value for all the items in the box, for customs purposes.
- Pink: This stuff goes to TN, then is packed into suitcases to be flown to Sierra Leone. We have to bring enough suitcases to live out of for 2-6 months, before our shipping container arrives: Air mattress, Sheets, Towels, Clothes, Pots, Pans, Spices, Cutlery, Toiletries, etc. I've heard it's not unreasonable to check 12 suitcases.
- Unlabeled: After leaving Spokane on the 30th, we are living out of our suitcases for the next 4 weeks. So everything else goes into the car: clothes, laptop, dog and dog food, and most importantly bonsai trees!
Every evening I come home and Rachel is physically and emotionally exhausted. The deluge of decisions is overwhelming. She is selling stuff, packing stuff, cleaning stuff, even buying stuff that we'll need in Africa. Marie Kondo has helped some, but we're way beyond "bringing joy" at this point.
Actually, I've been thinking a lot recently about the psychology of hoarders. It's normal to people to identify with their stuff; kids segregate by clothes, people identify by their houses and neighborhoods, men over-compensate with trucks and cars. Our stuff is a part of us. This is normal.
Hoarders just have a much stronger connection with their stuff. They are their stuff. To lose it is physically painful. A human body can become dilapidated, obese, and worn down and its still identified as 'self.' So even a house filled with junk covered in mildew and mouse poop can still be part of your personhood.
Combined with the loss of leaving jobs and colleagues we loved, a beautiful city filled with wonderful things to do, a church community, dear friends, and soon the comforts of the western world, we are also having to deal with a loss of our stuff. It's difficult to articulate, but it's hard to leave Spokane for many many reasons.
But right now, I'm going to blame our stuff for making things so difficult.
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