I woke up this morning at 10:16 with a dull headache after a recurring nightmare I’ve been having about packing. I guess with my two upcoming trips to California and Las Vegas, I’ve been a little concerned about packing, and it’s even been bothering me in my sleep.  I never even know what I’m packing for in this dream, but it’s damn scary. Of course, it’s never exactly the same dream. Sometimes I’m packing for a vacation, other times to come home from a vacation, and sometimes I’m packing up tons of stuff to move across the country.
This time my packing nightmare involved taking a heap of clothing on hangers out of a closet in the guest bedroom of my friend’s house in Richmond to the airport in order to get it somewhere else – I’m assuming Las Vegas, since that will be my next big move. I was getting extremely frustrated trying to get this huge mound of suits, shirts, and dresses in every imaginable hideous color down the stairs of her house.
As I started to wake up from this dream, I was appalled by the absolute absurdity of it. First of all, I have no clothes at my friend’s house in Richmond, especially none that are bright orange or lime green. Second, I’ve been amazingly good about cleaning out my room, organizing my stuff, and packing lightly for all the recent excursions I’ve taken. Packing doesn’t even bother me as much as it used to – moving back and forth from college eight times has made it all a bit less formidable. I suppose it’s still a pet peeve of mine, but I’ve taken steps to make packing for my extended trip to Las Vegas as painless as possible.
I’ve been organizing everything in my room, right down to the memory boxes full of crap in my closet that I swore I’d never throw anything out of. I figure if it’s in a memory box, and you can’t remember where it came from, you may as well throw it out. I’ve packed away the things I know I won’t need for a long time, and I’ve given away hundreds of articles of clothing and at least thirty pairs of shoes. Perhaps I’m finally growing out of my attachment to inanimate objects because even stuffed animals have been flying out of my room in various storage containers and bags bound for the basement or the curb. Yes, it’s definitely been a productive time for my room. I don’t believe it’s looked this good since, well, ever.
I’ve been through my entire wardrobe (including socks, underwear, and bathing suits), jewelry, desk, nighttable drawers, memory boxes, shot glasses, stupid little porcelain statues that sit and collect dust, stuffed animals, pillows, candles, pens, pencils, lotions, shampoos, etc. Sure, there are still things left to be done. After I get back from California next week, there are purses to be sorted through, CDs to be put back in their cases and reorganized, books to be shelved, sold used or returned to the bookstore, and I have a box of miscellaneous stuff that needs to find a home. I have found that the more you sort through things, the more you can bring yourself to throw away – and the more stuff you throw away, the more you realize you don’t need to go shopping.
I’m sure packing for Las Vegas will be an enlightening experience for me, especially because I don’t know how long I’ll be there. I’ll be packing for the drive out and 4-6 weeks of living at my Aunt Kim and Uncle Franky’s house. I’ll need to find a job, so I’ll need to bring some nice clothes. It’ll be in the 70s there by March, so I’ll need to bring some springy clothes. If I find an apartment and decide to stay until I hear back from the Navy, I’ll need to have all of my things here organized so that they can be shipped to me accordingly – but not too many things, because I’m thinking I’ll be back in Jersey before the end July, when the temperature will be a little to hot for me in Vegas and the waves will be decent for a bit of surfing in Belmar.
You know, for once, I might have this packing extravaganza under control. I’m actually looking forward to it. No need for any more packing nightmares, but I’m gonna go put together a suitcase for my trip to southern California now – just in case.
