After almost 14 years in the same house and 10 years of sleeping in the same room, I will have to make the adjustment to living in a completely new environment. I have collected everything I need for my venture off to college. I am not a procrastinator in any sense of the word but I have put off packing away my things and going through everything in my room. I have fit 18 years worth of memories into three suitcases and two plastic bins. I found my favorite T-shirt from seven years ago, a bunch of Hannah Montana wall stickers, the baseball cap I wore to fish with my Dad, a towel my great aunt made for me, every single dance recital and rec league soccer T-shirt I ever received as well as the pair of shoes that saw me through countless shifts that went toward paying for my car. I have purged the blouses I thought I needed but never wore, the perfectly worked in a pair of Vans that have seen better days and the six-inch heels I swore I needed when I bought them in ninth grade.
Most of the articles I am getting rid of are being donated to charity, but the physical act of reliving memories and the reality of moving away from home hit harder than I initially thought they would. I'm an adult and I don't need to hold onto the clothes I'm not wearing or the old items from my childhood. I would be lying if I said that a part of me didn't want to keep it all, to put off going through everything for another year, but that part of me did not prevail. I am actually taking about one-third of the clothes I own, and another third is being given away or thrown out. I will always have my memories and all of the new room in my closet only means that I have room to grow (and room to buy new sweaters and shoes!)
Around 95 percent of my current bedroom is bags, boxes, suitcases and other miscellaneous items that must accompany me to college. I am well aware that I will not need everything I have packed away and that some of it will be coming home with me when I travel back for Thanksgiving break. I also take comfort in the fact that I will have every single sweatshirt and scarf I own with me, you know...just in case.
Several happy things did come out of my self-induced "I'm an adult now" purge: some other girl will be able to wear my clothes, I have more room in my closet and I have relived many happy memories; however, I am definitely asking Santa for new clothes and shoes this December.
I am t-minus six days out from move-in day and I have realized how quickly the last 14 years in my house have gone. Goodbye to the little ranch in the small farm town. Hello to the dorm room on the Philadelphia outskirts.
