Grounding --- Day 14/257

Walk: TJ's, Monday errands on Tuesday

Distance: 3 miles, PT, more things from storeroom to sidewalk

There is something grounding about letting things go. Which surprised Ciwt.  Yesterday she took her brass fireplace andirons and tools* out to the sidewalk.  This was a big deal for her; they were from her grandparents' home in Connecticut and actually have some value.  But not so much on the West Coast and, furthermore it has become something of a pain to sell antique things - at least out here.  Far fewer antique dealers, too much competition from Craig's List and the burgeoning online free furniture and such websites.  Then there is the matter of whether Ciwt wants to let a stranger into her environment or whether the stranger will actually show up (with money) if she decides yes.  All these avenues Ciwt pursued, going around to dealers or going around in her mind for years.  Until, yesterday, she was ready to just let them go, knowing if someone took them they would be valued by that new owner.

So, out to the street they went.  They sat shining in the Labor Day sun all afternoon, and when Ciwt went to bed, she planned to bring them back in next morning. No one even wanted them; it felt forlorn. Times change. But today when she woke up and looked out the window they were gone, the sidewalk was empty.  So later today she brought out the brass fender - which once upon a Connecticut time - reeeeally had value.  And this time a neighbor rushed out immediately to fetch it.  (He said he is going to repurpose it for his garden.  Who knew?  And what an original idea.  It should look lovely).

When it was taken away, Ciwt suddenly felt she was standing more solidly on the sidewalk in front of her 'new' home.  All the years of holding on to East Coast, then her home of 43 years, apparently had kept her a bit (or a lot) suspended in 'as if' time.  Or something.  Anyway, letting go had a physical effect.  A good one.

* It's looking like, in all those many years,  Ciwt never took a proper portrait of the brass things she's been telling you about in.  You can see them peeking up below the painting she bought to complete her living room look back then.  It is also gone now because it didn't work in her next home, this time sold through a dealer.  Almost everything else in the picture gone too - except, happily, for her cat, Tawny.