52 Card Project 2021: Week 43: Staycation
Oct. 29th, 2021 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrI took this past week off work. Over the past couple of years, I have rather dreaded taking vacations, because I haven't done much to make them fun. Instead, I've been going through boxes of Rob's stuff, which has always been a difficult/boring/dirty/painfully emotional task.
But over the past three-plus years, I've tackled most of the low-hanging fruit. I've emptied a lot of boxes, and I'm getting down to the last, toughest things to make decisions about.
It occurred to me that really, the things I have to decide about are down to just a few boxes worth. I always had a keepsake box for each girl when they were growing up. Why not put these last few precious things into one box for Rob? Or perhaps two or three at most?
So I bought three plastic bins, and I have been filling one today. I put in the newspaper printed on the day he was born and the newspaper with his obituary. His high school, college, and law school diplomas. Three of his most beautiful/meaningful neckties. A couple of shirts and sweaters I couldn't bear to throw out. His Minicon badges. Various other random items and documents (poems and essays from elementary school. The letter he wrote to Isaac Asimov, trying to convince him to come to Minicon. The badges he earned as a Boy Scout. A few of his business cards and his CompUSA and Best Buy name tags).
And I will move the plastic bin down to the basement (now dry, due to the newly installed drain tile) so I won't have to look at these things every day.
But for the most part, I have not been dealing with boxes this week. Instead, I've been enjoying a staycation. I have walked around the lake, and I've done yoga. I've eaten too many pastries and gone out to eat and ordered wine with dinner. I went shopping in Excelsior (the background for this card is from a photo of a rack of cards in a gift shop there). I bought a couple of sansevieria plants to put in my living room. I went to see Dune at the Riverview Theater. I listened to jazz (the "Friday Coffee" picture is from a live jazz station on YouTube). I lit all the candles in my living room, curled up on the couch, and read fanfiction.
I relaxed and enjoyed myself.
Oh. That's what vacation is for. Well, aside from going somewhere, which is difficult to do without worry during a pandemic. I think I spent the week as well as I could.
Staycation
Click here to read about the 52 card project and see the year's gallery.
But over the past three-plus years, I've tackled most of the low-hanging fruit. I've emptied a lot of boxes, and I'm getting down to the last, toughest things to make decisions about.
It occurred to me that really, the things I have to decide about are down to just a few boxes worth. I always had a keepsake box for each girl when they were growing up. Why not put these last few precious things into one box for Rob? Or perhaps two or three at most?
So I bought three plastic bins, and I have been filling one today. I put in the newspaper printed on the day he was born and the newspaper with his obituary. His high school, college, and law school diplomas. Three of his most beautiful/meaningful neckties. A couple of shirts and sweaters I couldn't bear to throw out. His Minicon badges. Various other random items and documents (poems and essays from elementary school. The letter he wrote to Isaac Asimov, trying to convince him to come to Minicon. The badges he earned as a Boy Scout. A few of his business cards and his CompUSA and Best Buy name tags).
And I will move the plastic bin down to the basement (now dry, due to the newly installed drain tile) so I won't have to look at these things every day.
But for the most part, I have not been dealing with boxes this week. Instead, I've been enjoying a staycation. I have walked around the lake, and I've done yoga. I've eaten too many pastries and gone out to eat and ordered wine with dinner. I went shopping in Excelsior (the background for this card is from a photo of a rack of cards in a gift shop there). I bought a couple of sansevieria plants to put in my living room. I went to see Dune at the Riverview Theater. I listened to jazz (the "Friday Coffee" picture is from a live jazz station on YouTube). I lit all the candles in my living room, curled up on the couch, and read fanfiction.
I relaxed and enjoyed myself.
Oh. That's what vacation is for. Well, aside from going somewhere, which is difficult to do without worry during a pandemic. I think I spent the week as well as I could.
Click here to read about the 52 card project and see the year's gallery.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-30 01:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-30 04:10 am (UTC)And I'm so glad putting the box together meant you could have a proper vacation. You did it up with a bow!
P.