When we put the house on the market last year, we packed out most of our possesions and put them in storage. When the house didn't sell, we brought all those boxes home from the storage area and put them in the garage which had been remodeled into a workout room. Clearly, it is no longer a workout room. unless you count the workout the cats get when they escape into the garage and spend two hours climbing all over the boxes and mewing pitifully to be released - which can not be heard unless one is standing right outside the door, which usually happens after one of says "Hey - I haven't seen the cats for about two hours - have you?" So, keeping in mind there is a two foot clearance the length of the garage for egress, you can imagine how many boxes there are in there. Today, the children and I (then Dave at the end) sorted, shifted, moved and brought out into the driveway all the boxes in what turned out to be, by the end of the day, a vain attempt to locate the Windows XP cd which magically went missing when we were packing out the house. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Microsoft and how much I miss the Apple we used to have before my husband decided to go to law school and we had to convert to the Evil Empire? Perhaps, one day, I will post a sonnet about my hatred for the Evil Empire, but I digress. At any rate, Kyle, being true to his gender said in all seriousness "Just throw all my boxes out" before going back inside to help his father. Being the mother, I could not. The thought of his little wooden trucks and his legos and his fair ribbons being summarily thrown out, never to be shared with his future wife and children saddened me immensely, so I tucked them all back into the garage. Abby kept nearly all her boxes out and as I unpacked all our linens and much of my kitchenware, she went through them, sorting out toys which she no longer wanted in order to donate them to some charity (once we figure out who will take them). She kept up a running conversation with me about all her treasures and how funny it was when she was little that toys were so important and she could not ever imagine giving up any of them, but now, she only wanted to keep the most special. She took pains to put aside a nice assortment for the four little ones she babysits, and she took care to try and figure out what each child would like. I enjoyed this time with her, listening to her, seeing her maturing before my eyes, feeling the sun on my skin, smelling the fresh scent of spring and listening to the birds. It was a beautiful afternoon, I hope I remember it when I am very old.