Garage Sales are for the future

So we had a big garage sale yesterday. You can't see anything since the tent cover was in the front of the driveway, but we had a lot of stuff behind it. A lot of stuff. We started at 8 am and went until 3pm, which seemed like the longest day in the history of the universe. My poor girl had to take a quick trip to the Pediatrician, but aside from that the sale was a good success.

This garage sale marks a turning point in the way I view myself. I have recorded in previous blogs my "Dark Night of the Soul" (from Foster's Spiritual Disciplines). I am in a darker time of my life and I have been reflecting, cleaning, searching and studying and finally purging myself in ways I have never done so before. The garage sale is indicative of my desire to let go of my former identities and dreams to make way for new growth, new dreams and new identity. I finally sold my guitar that symbolized by desire to be an "Amy Grant" or Melissa Ethridge of sorts. I've long held the secret dream of being a rock star, kickin' it up with my guitar on stage every night with a full band. I sold the box of antique music sheets and magazines that I have held onto for 11 years..thinking they might someday be valuable...they're not. They are never going to be and they just require me to store them, sort them and defend their presence in my house every six months when my DH asks "Now, again, why do we have these?". I sold my box of jewelry boxes that was a project I intended to do for the last 3 years. I am never going to do the project, and it just hangs over me, unfinished and guilt laden.

I need to shed my guilt over unfinished projects and clean out what hinders me from the future as a Mother and a wife who works at making a home and a life for my family members. So today I am a little richer in the pocket (thanks to the Dave Weinkauf "School of Garage Sale Deal Making". I am much richer in my soul, where I am at peace with my accomplishments, or more importantly the lack of them, at the grand age of 31.

I think I finally accept who I am, and I am excited about who I am becoming.