#72 - Pick a little, talk a little...

Well, the spelunking continues.  Boy, have I found some gems.  And things for the brohas.  And for me. And for my 2nd cousin, the one who's mom was my mom's best friend.  All those letters - I'll be sending them off to her soon.

I swear, that Vault Goddess never threw anything away.  Of course, there are loads of "Your payment is past due" notices, and receipts for all kinds of things, call sheets for shows, lots of names and phone numbers from lists of boards she was on.  I've taken to shredding anything with SSN's on it.  But the rest?  Good decoupage fodder;  perhaps Junk Journal fixings?  We will see.

And of course, we're getting closer to the QUILTING & PORNO box.  The one we all laughed about.

I've managed to pare 5 boxes down to 2 so far.  With only 21 more to go.  I think I'm getting more accustomed to knowing what to pitch out and what to keep for the next review round. And all the while, it reinforces the morass of my OWN paper collecting habits.  Like the box next to me.  It has her personalized license plate in the front for ease of finding the right one.  I realize saved the cards that came with the flowers from her funeral, along with the important papers (death certificates, etc.).  I've come upon the same in the Vault Goddess boxes, (cards from the funerals for her mom, her dad, her sister,) I and wonder why do we keep these little sovenir pieces of paper? Mementos?  It's a remembrance, but what if there's no one to remember the remembrance anymore?

Ah well - let's jump back in.  When I'm ready to share some photos, after I pick some more, we'll talk about it.

#71 - All the comforts of home

"Boy, what'll it take to get me to do this every day?  

Perhaps I'm too comfortable in my own skin.  

No, that's not it."

This above was a draft was from February 2020.  Words from the pre-COVID world.  Only a few months ago, but it seems like a different era.

So let's delve into the background:   If I recall, it was right after Valentine's day weekend, which dovetailed onto the President's Day holiday weekend.  We had gone to visit my darling other Mother and Father-in-law in NorCal.  She was good, and healthier than her 90th birthday last May. Then, she started feeling a bit punky so I made her Matzo ball soup.  We had fun, and then, huzzah, on the way back, we stayed in SF and got to go see HAMILTON!  A wonderful recognition award from my boss.  Great seats, front row center, Mezzanine.  The most amazing piece of theatre.  

After we got home, I thought about the weekend and was struck by how comforting Matzo ball soup is.  I was determined to write about that and my memories of it, what it meant to me as a child, and then growing up and being an adult, and as a parent.  It was reminiscent of "all the comforts of home."  But, as per my usual, I penned a few short words and boom, got too busy.  I was rehearsing for a show that was to open in late March.

A few short weeks later, and the Coronavirus pandemic had fully set in. Suddenly, all the comforts of home had taken on an entirely new meaning.  That was March 13, the last day of working at my office site. Thankfully, we had just finished our kitchen remodel, with the completed install of our kitchen counters and backsplash (which look amazing, by the way).  The show was canceled, and we've been "SIP" (shelter in place) and I've been "WAH" (work at home) ever since. 

We've been "enjoying" all the comforts of home since then.  For the last 3-1/2 months, I've been working full time, gardening, playing with our newly adopted kittens (more about them forthcoming in future blog posts), and hunkering down, trying our best to stay healthy and staying away from COVID-19.  Now, I'm learning to stay comfortable in my own home.  MY home.  So grateful for my home, that I have a job, a roof over my head, and trying to stay sane in this horrific current world order.

My oldest child, my firstborn, was just here for almost 2 weeks.  Since he'd also been WAH, and had a COVID test before he came, we decided he could be bubbled into being home for a few weeks.  He brought up his 2 monitors and set up his office.  We enjoyed being together, binged a show, ate good food, and just enoyed having him home.  He headed back south last night.  But while he was here, and he and the hubby were off golfing, I decided it was finally time.

In the beginning of the SIP, like most folks, we spent time on our things. Going through some of our things. We reorganized and shifted things around.  Separated the Mom boxes and put all the paperwork boxes that needed sorting under the pool table.  

You know what they say - when you move one thing, a paradigm shift begins.  And so it has.  

FINALLY, after 12 and a half years and over 70 blog posts, true vault spelunking commenced.  I've gotten through three (of the 26) boxes of paperwork. Getting closer to everyone's favorite box:  Quilting & Porno.  

Let's discover what we've uncovered.  In the comfort of my own home. And we'll see if I can get myself to pen something new every day.  From the comfort of my home.

You know what they say:  "hindsight is 20-20."  We will see if that holds true...