I spent a day deep cleaning and organizing the studio this week. I was happy to let go of fabric that I didn't need and that was taking up lots of space. I love the feeling of a clean and organized space. It is definitely my preferred way to live but often it is a challenge to keep things that way. I know that if things never got messy I would not appreciate the clean space nearly as much.
A few weeks ago we gave the rest of our apartment a similarly deep cleaning, which was equally wonderful. I was able to be realistic about letting go of things I don't need. I am easily tempted to keep things that I might use someday, but it is liberating to let go of them at last.
There was a box of photos in the closet that I hadn't looked at in years. Film that I developed and printed myself in Italy, hauntingly beautiful images of Venice, photos of the streets of Paris, and shots full of color from Tanzania and Zanzibar. I found the panorama I took from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro that I had been wanting to frame for years. I love stumbling upon old photos and the memories and feelings that they bring back. Many of the photos had never made it into albums so I picked out my favorites and put them in a box to look at whenever I want a reminder of those far off times and places.
It can be hard to find a balance between keeping things from the past that are important and letting go of things that might weigh you down. This is one reason that I like keeping journals and taking photographs. They don't take up a lot of space, but they hold a lot of meaning. Sometimes all it takes is a glimpse of one moment captured on film (or, more often now on pixels) to bring back another time and place.
Happy Friday!
P.S. I finally got the new aprons in the shop!
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