Calling for snow….

Really?

Wednesday.  The day our moving van will be here.  The forecast….snow.  Really?  Right then? Couldn't come a day earlier or a day later?  Just goes to show you whose in control…..and it's not me.

We are scrambling to get things done these last couple of days and still have some kind of order in our lives.  All of our boxes are moving to the garage to make this as easy and as fast as possible.  Beds are being taken apart and the last few things are getting crammed into cars and driven over to the rental.  

We're on the home stretch.  And it looks like it's gonna get interesting.

I love farmers. They keep things simple….

The best advice always comes from those people with experience.   Like farmers.  Simple, honest and straight to the point.

1. Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong. 

 2.  Keep skunks and bankers at a distance. 

   3. Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

 4. A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor. 

  5. Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled. 

   6. Meanness don't jes' happen overnight. 

 7. Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.

 8. Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you. 

 9. It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge. 

10. You cannot unsay a cruel word. 

11. Every path has a few puddles. 

12. When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

13. The best sermons are lived, not preached.

14. Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway. 

15. Don't judge folks by their relatives. 

16. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

17.  Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time. 

18. Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none. 

 19. Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.  

    20. If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.  

21. Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got. 

  22. The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'. 

  23. Always drink upstream from the herd. 

  24. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment. 

  25. Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in. 

 26. If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.

   27. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. 

What to keep and move or throw it away….

Packing.

Seems like such a time sucker if you think about it.  Some things take me just a moment to pack.  Like clothes.  Dishes.  Dog toys.  Others…..well, then I get stuck.  For a while.  In memories.

When you open every box, every drawer and look through every item in your house to pack, you find yourself coming across items you haven't seen in years.  Your third grade classroom photo.  Oh yes, I'm sporting some pigtails.  And no….not putting that picture up on here.

You. Are. Welcome.

My great-grandfather's carnegie medal.  It was awarded to him April 15, 1904 for his heroism in saving a boy's life.  The back of the medal says this, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends".  A little over 9,000 medals were ever given.  How cool is that.  And my great-grandfather was one of them.

Then there was my husband's grandfather's pocket watch.  Nobody ever carries these anymore.  I love it.  Classic.  Elegant.  And way cool.

Or a set of nesting dolls that my grandfather and grandmother gave to us after their many travels.  On the bottom of the dolls are stamped "Made in USSR".  Okay….I admit.  She is a little creepy.  But it was so cool to hear all their stories of their adventures when they came back.

Lost.

Lost in the memories.  Over and over again.  It's the notes of encouragement I saved after my father passed away.  His bible he always carried to church.  The college pictures.  Our wedding album.  The pictures of our first dog.  Letters my husband and I wrote to each other while away at college.  On and on it goes.

Packing.  Box after box.

I try to make a decision.  Quick….keep this and move it or throw it out.  Not everything can go.  But so many things.  Oh, so many things have wonderful memories.  Not to anyone else.  But to me and my husband.  

Goofy ones.  Ones that make me laugh out loud even to this day.  Ones that ground me to a moment that's hard to forget.  I can hear it now one day my kids will say….man, I'm not sure why Mom and Dad ever kept this old thing.

But one day.  One day.  They will understand.  They have to make their own memories.  Figure out what means the most to them.  Live their life.

And figure out what to keep and move or throw it away.