Finding Freedom From Fixtures

After recently taking a workshop with Marylee Fairbanks (http://maryleefairbanks.com/) I have decided to begin my own "24 Things" challenge (http://maryleefairbanks.com/24-things/). The rules are simple: each day for 24 days you let go of something that has been cluttering up your house, something that no longer serves you, objects that will be better suited at a yard sale, donation box, or in a trash barrel. During the 24 day release, one should only purchase necessities-- food, medical care, etc. All other material desires should be added to an ongoing list. If you are able to remember the items on your list at the end of the 24 days, then you are free to purchase them, otherwise they are likely to have been unimportant. According to Marylee, "The clutter in our house reflects the clutter in our hearts." Are we clinging to mementos of past relationships? Unwanted gifts that we were too polite to turn away? Clothes that haven't fit for years? Objects that no longer reflect who we are currently in this ever-changing body and mind of ours? Are the things we surround ourselves with keeping us rooted in the past, preventing us from blossoming into the future? In order to invite abundance into our lives, we must eliminate the unnecessary clutter that surrounds us.

Although Marylee recommends four cycles, corresponding to the four seasons, of 24 Things each year, the timing of her most recent workshop and the significance of this period in my own life could not have been better. I will be beginning my solitary 24 Things today, April 29th exactly one year after my (ex) husband told me he was moving out. In exactly 24 days I will turn 28 years old. I cannot think of a better way to mark the end of a year of transformation and to usher in another year of abundance, love, and gratitude for this life that constantly challenges and inspires me.

"One good thing to remember when clearing out is this: If you have an object that makes the past feel more important than the future then you should let it go. The past is gone. Your present is all that need be nourished." ~Marylee Fairbanks

Friday, May 10, 2013

Day 12: Iron

The army stresses precision in mundane tasks like shoe shining, bed making, and ironing. My ex husband avoided bed-making post boot camp, but took to shoe-shining and ironing with a meticulous accuracy that rivaled even my obsessive compulsive tendencies. When he left the army and moved back to Massachusetts he got a job working as a security guard, monitoring the parking lot of an abandoned building during the over night shift. He parked his car at 9 PM and had to periodically make rounds until 5 AM. Not surprisingly, he seldom saw anyone other than a stray drunk who had lost his way home. Despite the darkness and solitude, preparing his uniform was a nightly ritual that took hours to perform. He shined his boots with Kiwi shoe-shine and spit, rubbing the brush back and forth, back and forth until they reflected light from sole to tongue tip. I'd find smears of black on the kitchen floor and learned to recognize the pungent, chemical odor.

Worse than the shoe shining was the ironing. Pants, shirt, vest had to have unmistakably straight lines running in perfect precision from ankle to waist and wrist to shoulder. He'd heat the iron to smoldering and bend over the ironing board for at least an hour, folding, unfolding, refolding, creasing, matching up edges in a perfectly choreographed dance. He ironed his uniform so excessively that the fabric began to melt off and mark the iron. He of course blamed the iron and the fabric. When the fabric marks had taken over most of the base, we replaced the iron pictured above and I talked him into taking the new one when he left.

Ironing has always been the single household chore that I avoid at all costs. I will vacuum, scrub the tub and toilet, mop the floor, brush the rugs, dust for days but will not lift an iron. I wear skirts to work all year long and buy fabric that does not wrinkle to avoid ironing completely. Despite my preference not to press, I have been holding on to the old iron with polyester fibers still sticking to the silvery surface. When heated, the blue hue of the fabric marks anything you press the iron onto. Even if I ironed, I would not use this. It seems only logical to clear a space in my kitchen cabinet by removing this pointed and pointless object.
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