Yesterday a Miracle Occurred

Yesterday a miracle occurred. We have lived in our home for about 12 years now. In that 12 years we have not been able to park a car in the garage most of the time. We have had our "stuff" in there and we have had "stuff" from different kids temporarily stored there.

About a year ago we were able to consolidate this "stuff" down to one side of the garage when our youngest child got married and we convinced her to start carting her "stuff" to her new home. At that point we were able to shoehorn our medium-sized sedan into one side of the garage. That seemed sufficient until I realized that my plan for building a model railroad set was never going to be realized without either abandoning the idea of parking a car in the garage or disposing of, and re-packaging, the "stuff" that was consuming so much of our garage space.

Yesterday I got this wild hair that I could complete the task of clearing the garage in about an hour. But since some of the stuff was my wife's and some of the stuff was my daughter's, and the wife wanted to be involved in the disposal of the daughter's stuff, I asked for her help.

As some of you who have worked "in committee" realize, nothing done by a committee gets done fast. You need to discuss this and do "a study" about that. Make assignments. Bring refreshments. Decorate. And on, and on, and on. But I was brave and asked her to help anyway.

The miracle occurred because we actually got through it all, loaded two trash and recycle barrels and donated stuff to Good Will in only about 3 hours. I hung one of Shelley's old balls from The ceiling for my new parking marker. (Shelley chewed all of the tennis balls up years ago). We put Quentin's "stuff" in the cabinets, which we could now open because there was no "stuff" blocking the doors. I arranged some of the "stuff" of mine from the front of the garage to the other side to make more room for bumper space. It will have to be relocated again to clear the intended Train Table spot, but that is OK.

Now the wife and I have to stop and admire the emptiness of the garage each time we come and go. It is a lot like having a king sized bed all to yourself. You can park left, or you can park right. You can park in the middle or all whopper-jawed. Now that is what I call freedom! If it lasts until the 4th of July we will really have something to celebrate this year.