Spring Cleaning

Easter weekend, early this year, falls on March-something. Easter, probably the most widely celebrated of the Catholic "Moveable Feasts," hits me by surprise every year.

Already rather nun-like, I tend to avoid giving things up for Lent. I've given up sunshine long enough. Plus there's no time to prepare for giving things up. I tune out so hard in wintertime that Ash Wednesday only occurs to me when the odd coworker or student pops up with a smudgy forehead. By that point, my day usually planned so full that it spills into the next one and I don't observe the holiday. And Mardi Gras, that HUGE hedonists' ball the night before. Yeah, I was probably in bed by 10 pm.

Then suddenly it's Easter and things are changing.

I've been on a couple of purge-kicks already this year, but that was of things to give away. A trip to Iowa City next weekend means it's time for full-on Spring Cleaning. There is a consignment store I know well there. I'll pack up the Hyundai only with things I know they'll take, and I truck it out West.

It's like going to market. Crap that I have from Chicago will sell, and in a few months VR will mail me a check. It'll probably only cover the gas to and from the trip, but it's something. The real benefit is that I am less a carload of THINGS.

There are so many ways to diet, and so many parts of ourselves that need to lose weight.