Past, Present and Future

Today, thanks to Jess, I made some major headway toward finishing my packing. Moving is always both physically and emotionally exhausting - even Buster agrees. So I was so thankful to have her help.

Although I close tomorrow, I'm not moving into my new house until Saturday. Having this one week of crossover time to live in two places is perfect. It gives me time to take over items on my own, have things delivered and installed and not feel rushed to do it all in one day.

While packing today, though, I was amazed, once again, at how much stuff I have. Largely, I was shocked by the amount of photos, photo albums and pictures I have. Mind you, they're all from prior to 2004 before I owned a digital camera. Remember the days when you had to mail your film in and wait for it to be processed and mailed back? It felt like forever! Tiny Mellie had no idea that in her future she would have instant access to all of her pictures but rarely print them. In the meantime, I have all of these pictures from college and high school. Some of which I never want to look at again or risk others getting ahold of in this digital age of Facebook. But somehow I can't let go of them; of my past.

So even though it's only been 1.5 years since my last move, I will part with little pieces of my past. It only seems natural that every time you move, you let something go. I won't mention specific items so that I don't inadvertendly offend anyone but suffice it to say that it feels good to think about my future and what items I'll continue to hold onto and choose to part with as I grow into my new roots!

Also, speaking of past, present and future, I realize that not all of you may be familiar with 'Mellie'. Upon moving to Austin I met my dear friend, Jess. She quickly coined my nickname Mellie and it's stuck and spread. But mostly in Austin. So to those of you who know me as Melissa, Mel, Meliss, Mellie Alana, Mole, Sil, Little Sil, Silly-o and anything else that may have been coined, I wanted to get you up to speed. I still welcome any nicknames, though, from the past, present or future.