New York Living Is Like Starting College

Since I found out I was moving to NY, I've been going through my belongings like treasured artifacts of my past. Big decisions have to be made. Goals had to be set. I gave myself a budget of $500 to ship my belongings. (A moving truck would have been close to $2000). All of the big furniture is being sold off.

This process feels a lot like packing for college. In NY I will be sharing a 5th floor walk up railroad apartment. For those that dont know, Railroad means that all the rooms stack behind each other, making one long apartment. My housemates will walk through my bedroom to get to theirs. Still for my own room in midtown (52nd and 9th) I'm not complaining. My room fits a twin bed and a bookshelf and has a closet. Everything I own has to be whittled down to a closet and a bookshelf.

When I packed for college I was very concerned that if someone walked in to my shared dorm room, they would immediately know every intimate detail about me and my past. I took 20 or so posters from shows I had done in high school and community theatre and hung them up. If there was any blank wall space, it was filled with photographs of these productions. I wanted people to know I was a theatre person (ironically, I didn't study theatre in college.) My desk was covered with nicknacks and gadets that I had collected in my 18 years. My baby blanket and AJ the dog/bear lived on my bed. There wasn't an ounce of room left for me...let alone my poor roommate, Carla. And now, years later I am faced with the same quandry: What goes to NY and what goes to the Goodwill?

But you know what is interesting about this time around. I'm taking a huge step. I'm walking away from my life here in Seattle and starting a new one. Armed with that knowledge, packing has become a lot easier. I don't need 20 pictures of my high school boyfriend. I can toss the dried corsage from prom. And I certainly don't need to haul my 20 page paper on the Pauline Scriptures across the country.

It interesting to go through everything and take a look and who you were and who you've become. More importantly, I thought long and hard about who I want to be. If a certain belonging or memory didn't support that vision, it got tossed. And you know what? I feels really good! Letting go of old dreams and goals makes room for new dreams. And I for one couldn't be more excited to pursue them!