Moving and memories

Preparing for a international move has all sorts of unexpected advantages. For example, I've been able to turn down the multitude of solicitations for charities we've gotten phone calls for with the line, "I'm sorry I can't help right now, but we're getting ready to move out of the country." And the amazing thing is that the caller is so gracious about the rejection.

The other big advantage is that there's all sorts of projects-in-progress (ie. "I'll get to that someday") that are actually progressing. It's hard to justify moving something that is either broken or useless until some minor repair is done. So, I've gotten glass cut for several picture frames and last night I began to sort through letters I received as a missionary. It's amazing how there are some things which could only be classified under the heading of "love letters" that don't ever get opened. I know the handwriting, I can remember or guess what the contents are, and I know how those relationships ended. Those get recycled. Although it's wonderful to open a letter from Jason and read about what was on his mind as we were so far apart. These get kept.

The other wonderful thing was to read a letter that one of my dearest missionary companions had written while we were comps. She listed a bunch of "good things" about us being companions. I also found random "secret sister" notes of encouragement that I didn't remember. And photos, some of which aren't even too bad. But like the letters, there were photos that needed to be removed. So into the garbage they went. Now I just need to put the photos of moments worth remembering into a scrapbook. . .one more project-in-progress to complete.