The Things We Carry

I moved out of my apartment on Wednesday. But, before Wednesday I had to organize, and organize, and organize. My apartment was full of furniture, clothes and other knick-knacks collected since college. I was amazed with how much “stuff” I accumulated over the last 8 years since graduate school. For me, moving feels like a cathartic experience. With each item, I asked myself, “Do I need this? If not, who can use it?” That’s how I organized all the things in my apartment. I was lucky to have been fairly successful with craigslist. Most of my furniture—with the exception of my 5-piece kitchen table set was sold. My closets were cleaned and 7 bags of clothing and my kitchen items were boxed and given to Housing works (a non-profit that helps rehabilitate AIDS/HIV New Yorkers.) I had clothes nearly 10-years-old hanging in closets. It was time to give those to others in need.

The previous weekend, NE booked a round-trip train ticket from DC to help me on Saturday and Sunday organize and pack the 8 medium-sized boxes of memorabilia I couldn’t take with me to Nairobi. CC dedicated her weekend to help me pack my suitcases and conquer the remaining things in apartment. Once everything was boxed and labeled, the last task was organizing the only items I’d be using for my relocation–my two large suitcases. What would I do without my amazing friends? I don’t think I could have done it without them.