{"id":4781,"date":"2016-02-21T04:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=4781"},"modified":"2016-02-20T17:45:35","modified_gmt":"2016-02-21T01:45:35","slug":"packing-up-goin-nowhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/family\/packing-up-goin-nowhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Packing Up, Goin’ Nowhere."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_1111\"<\/a>This week I\u2019ve been cleaning out my china cabinet and buffet, wrapping tea cups and vases and wine glasses in newspaper and stuffing them\u2014carefully\u2014into boxes. Next I\u2019ll pack up the living room and then the bedroom.<\/p>\n

To anyone who steps in the door, it looks like I\u2019m getting ready to leave town. In reality, I\u2019m only getting ready to replace my carpet with hardwood floors.<\/p>\n

It sounded simple\u2014just another remodeling project\u2014until I thought about the fact that absolutely everything in those rooms sits on the floor or inside something that sits on the floor.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t have taken the project on if it hadn\u2019t been for my doctor. According to him, the dust mites that hang out in carpets make the asthma I developed five or six years ago worse. I procrastinated for a long time. Now, finally, I’m taking action.<\/p>\n

Digging through Layers of Time<\/strong><\/p>\n

Packing is like being on an archaeological dig. The deeper you dig into cupboards and drawers, the further back in time you go.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1115\"<\/a>My little chest of drawers in the hallway is a good example. It’s where I keep my music. The top of it looks all Twenty-First Century, an iPod resting in a Bose sound deck dock.<\/p>\n

The drawer below it is filled with CDs. Bruno Mars, Dave Matthews, Natalie Merchant, the Eurythmics, Bob Marley, Jon Secada, Mozart, The Nutcracker, Joan Baez, the Tijuana Brass. Each CD takes me further back in time.<\/p>\n

The bottom drawer draws me deeper still. I find cassettes I listened to when we lived in Manila and homemade cassettes of the kids singing for Grandma and Grandpa.<\/p>\n

I get rid of some CDs and cassettes and save others. I could give them all away, I suppose. I have most of them on iTunes already. They\u2019re saved in the cloud.<\/p>\n

The cloud … Such an insubstantial concept! It’s about as solid as a memory.<\/p>\n

You Can\u2019t Taste a Memory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No matter how real they may seem, you can\u2019t grab hold of a memory. You can\u2019t taste or smell it or rub it against your cheek. That’s why we anchor our memories with things we can see, smell, taste, touch, and\u00a0 … hear.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1122\"<\/a>When my mom died, the ladies in my writing group gave me a wind chime. They said I should hang it near the front door so I could hear it chime and think of Mom whenever the wind blew. A tangible sign to remind me of her. Not that I\u2019ll ever forget my mom. Still, I love remembering her each time I hear that chime.<\/p>\n

My cupboards are full of tangible reminders of things I’ve done and places I’ve been. I like the idea of neat, pared down cupboards. The trouble is, cleaning them out threatens to strip substance from my memories. It leaves them naked and vulnerable.<\/p>\n

And yet, you can\u2019t save everything.<\/p>\n

So I pack up some CDs for Goodwill and books for the library sale. I say goodbye to the silver-plated platters and silver-rimmed cocktail glasses that were wedding gifts back in the last century.<\/p>\n

The china my grandma painted is even older, but \u2026<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1070\"<\/a>Oh well. I\u2019ll tell you more about my grandma\u2019s china painting next week.<\/p>\n

\"my<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week I\u2019ve been cleaning out my china cabinet and buffet, wrapping tea cups and vases and wine glasses in newspaper and stuffing them\u2014carefully\u2014into boxes. Next I\u2019ll pack up the living room and then the bedroom. To anyone who steps in the door, it looks like I\u2019m getting ready to leave town. In reality, I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[155,156,1168],"tags":[1171,1175,1172,1174,1173,1169,1170],"class_list":["post-4781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-home","category-remodeling","tag-asthma-and-dust-mites","tag-china-painting","tag-ipods-and-cds","tag-memory","tag-music-cassettes","tag-packing-for-remodel","tag-replacing-carpet-with-hardwood"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-1f7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4916,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/home\/hiding-under-my-carpet\/","url_meta":{"origin":4781,"position":0},"title":"What Was Hiding under My Carpet.","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"April 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I noticed the spot more than a year ago. 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