Packing

Every little girl has dreams.  And so did I.  First and foremost on my list was, of course, for my prince to come and love me very much.  And that came true, and he did.  That he did.

The second dream was to live on a street with trees the way the fabled Bobbsey twins did in all my books.  And unexpectedly, that, too, came true.  I left the city streets upon marriage and thereafter, always lived on a street with trees.

The third dream was to tell stories, and miraculously, I have done that.

Oddly enough I never yearned for travel.  And surprisingly, that became a way of life in the years that followed.  Mostly due to my husband’s careers, we traveled extensively.

And thus I learned to pack.  I do it efficiently and probably, over obsessively.  Everyday is projected on a spreadsheet with anticipated activities in order to minimize the amount of clothing required.  I have done it so often that it almost rote.

And so I am beginning to anticipate my next trip.  This will be for a joyous occasion, Christmas in my daughter’s home.  I am excited about the visit, and my list of items is virtually completed.

Suddenly, however, as I sat at my computer and recalled the numerous times I have completed this task, I wondered about the great trip that all mortals take.

There will be no need to pack for that one, but the responsibility will be the unpacking of our earthly baggage.  And that will be quite a bit more difficult than packing since there is no reservation or date for departure.

There are things I hope to leave behind before that inevitable journey.  Mostly memories of love, laughter and joy shared by those who touched my life so deeply.  The Fabulous Four (the gifts the Lord bestowed on my husband and I)  probably only lived with us for a quarter of the years God allowed us to share, but they were, undoubtedly, the most incredible.  What to leave them is a question I ponder.

Earthly possessions can easily be disposed of.  There are numerous organizations devoted to cleaning out homes prior to resale, charitable groups anxious for donations, and frankly, most families are not anxious to inherit their parents’ possessions.  Too many memories perhaps.  Who really knows why.

I think the thing I would like most to leave behind are the memories, only the joyous, of course.  But the most significant, the memories of the laughter.  That came in abundance, and probably unappreciated at the time.  It was pure and unadulterated magic.  Moments of total pleasure not tinged with any other sentiment.  Oh, I hope I leave that behind when I make the final trip.

If there are any sad memories, I hope they leave when I do.  They need to be forgotten as do any fragments of guilt.  I always believed that was an unnecessary emotion.  Not that I was capable of denying it for any significant length of time.  It was part of my DNA.And quite possibly, this unpacking is something I should have thought about a long time ago.