Purge & Pack to Pursue...Happiness

Today is the final day of "Purge & Pack" week.  While my fellow teachers and students at school spent this spring break traveling, relaxing and rejuvenating; I sifted, sorted, deliberated, donated, and reminisced while purging and packing our household goods.  All this in pursuit of my husband's happiness!  You see, three weeks ago, my husband Tim was notified that he's been tapped for a new job at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.  With thirty days' notice, we've been given the task of downsizing from our 14-year, 2800 sq. ft. home where we've raised our two children to relocating into a tiny 927 sq. ft. apartment in a high-rise near the Pentagon.

We've known this transfer might happen.  We've discussed the "what-if's" endlessly.  We finally decided that Tim will take this 18-month temporary assignment in D.C. which begins on April 11th while I'll stay in Tucson to finish out this school year, thus, making me eligible for an early retirement.

Yet, our plans beyond this 18-month assignment are hazy.  Will Tim remain at a Headquarters job until he reaches the FBI's mandatory age of retirement still 4.75 years ahead in his future?  Will our daughter Jillian, recently graduated from the University of Arizona in December, need help with her August move to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she'll join the campus staff of The Navigators, an interdenominational Christian organization, at the University of Alabama?  Where will our son Richard migrate once he finishes his communications degree at Wheaton College next spring?  Will Tim & I return to Tucson once Tim retires?

All those questions revolved in my mind during this past Purge & Pack week to crystalize into these four driving questions:  What do I keep?  What do I toss?  What do I store?  What will we take with us?  The deciding factor for that last question depends upon how much will squeeze into our 2007 Toyota Sienna minivan for the cross-country trip over Memorial Day Weekend.   Still, it was an eye-opener to empty out our closets, cabinets and chests of drawers to see exactly how much stuff we own.  If the ownership of stuff equals happiness, then we definitely should have no complaints!

There were some casualties to this hectic week of packing.  The old ping-pong tabletop that I used to sandwich quilt tops, batting and backing is now gone, tossed by my husband.  I'd hoped to bequeath the Barbie doll clothes knit by my Aunt Ruth as Christmas gifts for my cousin Julie and I to a future granddaughter, but those were mistakenly dropped off at Goodwill.

Yet there were also some surprises.  Once thought long gone, the family history written by my son when his 4th grade class studied American immigrants surfaced with its stories passed down by grandparents and great-grandparents.  News clippings of my husband's high-profile cases were also discovered.  A small stained glass cross once tucked away in a cabinet now graces the rearview mirror of our car.

Now, as this Purge & Pack week ends, amid the debris of packing boxes, recycled newspaper and bubble wrap, I wonder what does lead to happiness.  I also wonder if I've made the right decisions.  Some items are now destined for D.C. while others are packed into boxes to store indefinitely in Tucson until Tim and I return.   Did I make good decisions?  Only time will tell!

And yet, the most important question of this week still remains...happiness and the pursuit thereof.  To me, happiness has always revolved having a purpose in life. After raising two terrific children while assisting students and co-workers at school, what work will I now find to do in this new adventure of ours?  I'm trusting that God will lead me to that answer as I daily seek His will.