Seasons...

As predictable as I like to think the seasons are--after all, summer does inevitably pass into fall and then to winter and spring and back again--they also never seem to unravel the same way. Some summers are hotter or wetter and sometimes we get snow in January and other times in March. Overall, the cycles of the seasons come and go, but they never really do it the same way.

Today I spent the day cleaning stuff out and purging--hauling this and that out to the dumpster and gathering up garbage and unused items. Purging to me feels like a necessary part of making room. It is impossible for change to come, for the new to enter a life, unless some of the old gets swept away. Despite my having learned how to clean out and let go, it still can feel a bit unsettling. After all, it is like admitting completely that certain things have passed and will never come again.

I have a friend who tends to purge prematurely and then finds herself having to go out and replace items that she gave or threw away. I still think it can be better to purge and liberate and go with the inevitable unique changing of the seasons, than to cling too long to things that really need to go. I like to think of it as *making room* instead of letting go, it just seems so much more optimistic.