This morning I took a van full of old junk to the big garbage sorting depot (Abfallverwertungsanlage) in Dußlingen. It turned out to be the most meloncholy part of the whole moving experience so far - more so than spending the last night in the old apartment or the day of the move, when I suspected my daughter would cry (but she didn't show any signs of sadness after all). Some of the stuff we threw away is associated with some very intense times or with things that are long, long gone.



I threw away two boxes of old cassette tapes, including some I have had with me in all the places I have lived since my freshman year in high school (about 12 places in six cities by my count). When I consolidated them into the boxes a few weeks ago, I noted the artists and titles in case I would ever want to recover some of those memories on CD or mp3 or whatever the technology is when I am 60: Kansas, Alan Parsons, Fleetwood Mac, Mannheim Steamroller, lots of 1940s swing, the Danish group Shu-Bi-Dua, show tunes, radio dramas, Barbershop learning cassettes, Latvian folk songs, etc. I have found I can part with things much easier if I write them down. I did the same 10 years ago when I got rid of about half my files.

The wood container ended up with a lot of condensed memories...

This picture includes the rest of one of my wife's wardrobes which she has had since childhood. She got it when she was going through a rought teenage period in a new small town. It also shows the pieces of the cribs our children slept in when they were babies. I recall seemingly endless nights of tears and helpless frustration when our daughter was an infant and the rasping sound of my son's lungs at night while we lay wondering whether to wake him to apply the inhaler again. The happier moments of when they were small are also here: The beds recall the lullibies and bedtime stories, of course. The things we wore at our wedding, for work and for play hung for years in that wardrobe. The little clown, now broken beyond repair, got pushed all over the apartment while they were both first walking.

My wife is much more ruthless in throwing things away. I am getting better at it. Now, next week it is off to IKEA and several stores in Reutlingen to get some new stuff!