ABC’s and PhD’s: Stuff
By Dana Campbell June 16, 2010 8:14 am
I didn’t write last week because I was overwhelmed in getting ready for our annual migration west. We spend the summer months doing research, writing, traveling and visiting our west coast-located parents and extended family. Especially because we live so far from family, this summer flexibility is one of the greatest perks of an academic career, as far as I’m concerned (I’ve blogged about this before). But no matter how far in advance I plan, the week before we leave is inevitably a hectic affair whereby my husband and I race the clock to pack up most of the stuff in our house before we turn over the keys to our summer renters and race to the airport, not to return for two and a half months.
This year we filled our entire front porch with old stuff that we took in load after load to our local thrift store (actually the store at which we purchase much of the clothes, toys, and stuff in our house, too!) You might think that after 11 years of such pre-summer cleanup our house would be organized and uncluttered, but no, it magically refills every year, and each year I find many sealed boxes labeled “To be opened after summer 2005,” and the like (which I am loathe to even open). I am amazed by the amount of stuff we have.
One of my own personal theories is that those who are more environmentally conscious have
