Category Archives: September 11th

November 7, 2012 · 3:04 pm

The Yard Sale (Part 1)

I’m known as the clear-cutter in my family.  Catch me in the right (bad) mood and I’ll throw anything and everything out in my path.  Even small children.

This is how I felt when I woke up on Sunday morning.  In my defense, my house needs to be de-cluttered.  Really badly.  It’s not quite like an episode of “Hoarders,” but there’s definitely too much stuff.  Does any household need six kids lunch boxes, seven Dora the Explorer DVDs, eight Thomas the Train DVDs (dear God!), and a dozen pairs of maternity jeans?  I think not.  By the end of the day on Sunday, I filled five garbage bags, created a small mountain of junk to go straight to bulk-trash or Goodwill, and dreamed up a crazy idea about what to do with the rest…have a yard sale.

I don’t know why, but I’ve always wanted to have a yard sale.  For the record, Mike has never, ever, ever, EVER wanted to have a yard sale, and he’s been trying to sabotage me ever since I declared my brilliant plan.  Luckily for me, the boys are thrilled about the idea so we won the family vote 3-1.  (Ha!  As if there was a vote!)

I’m currently knee shoulder forehead deep in yard sale planning, and even though I’m a little bit nervous, I’m also beyond excited about doing this.  It might just make my Runaway Mama bucket list.  I won’t bore you with the details on the yard sale…yet.  That will probably come later in the week, perhaps in the form of a list called: “Top Ten Reasons Yard Sales Rock!” (Or, if Mike has his way: “Top Ten Reasons Why Yard Sales Suck!”)  We’ll see.

Stuff makes me anxious.  (Obviously.)  I want to live with less, but I’m not heartless.  In fact, I found several items on my Sunday rampage that made me pause, including:

1. An envelope filled with everything that was pinned in my cubicle when I worked at PT&Co. (now CRT/Tanaka), a public relations agency in New York City.

I worked there from 2000-2004, and the experience was a huge part of my personal and professional growth.  It’s where I worked when I got engaged and married, it’s where I worked during the blackout of August 2003 (which included a very long and dark walk – in heels – to Brooklyn), and it’s where I worked when the inexplicable tragedy of 9/11 happened.  On that tragic day and the years that followed, PT&Co. was my home and my family.

I’ll never throw this stuff out.

2. Say hello to Freddy.

He’s in the back of the car in this picture because I had just almost accidentally given him away.  Gulp.  When I was a kid, Freddy was “my person.”  Yes, Freddy is a donkey.  No, I have no idea why I chose a stuffed donkey as “my person.”  I just know that Freddy’s been mine for as long as I can remember.  My Freddy is like Andy’s Woody.  Don’t get weirded out.  It’s not like I sleep with him, but he’s in the house.  Dylan and Riley never cared much for him (“A donkey, Mommy?”), but his presence has always been felt (by me, anyway).

On Monday afternoon, I drove all the way to the Goodwill truck before I realized Freddy was at the bottom of a bag filled with random stuffed bears.  Poor guy.  That car ride probably made him feel more like Jessie than Woody.  I almost gave him away!  But, unlike that cold-hearted snake of a tween in “Toy Story 2,” I didn’t.  Have I gone to far with the “Toy Story” references?

The bottom line is that I can be sentimental.  But, I’m still having a big-ass yard sale (just like in “Toy Story 2”!), and it’s going to be epic.  Plus, the boys are totally onboard to sell some of their junk (to make room for new junk, of course), and 50% of the profits will go directly to the American Red Cross to help victims of Sandy.  (The other 50% will be spent on stuff that I’ll eventually want to throw away.)

Ironically, preparing for a yard sale requires some shopping, which, as you know, is right up my alley.  Stay tuned…

Do you still have a stuffed animal or toy from your childhood?  Have you ever had a yard sale?

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Filed under anxiety, boys, bucket list, September 11th, shopping, yard sale

September 12, 2012 · 6:37 pm

Potty Talk

In my last post, I mentioned how grateful I was that my boys are still too young to ask questions about September 11th.  Boy was I wrong!

Dylan (while brushing his teeth before bed last night): “Mommy, we went to Ms. XXX’s class today.  I saw my friends in that class.”

Me: “What did you do in Ms. XXX’s class?”

Dylan: “We saw a video about the twin towers and the fire.  And do you know what?  Brothers and sisters died.  And kids.  And babies died, too.  Tons of babies.  It was a long, long time ago.  Before I was born.  Before I was here.  I didn’t exist yet.  When the fire was gone, I was born.”

Rewind to 2:37 p.m. at carpool:

Me: “How was school? What did you learn today?”

Dylan: “Nothing.  I played and had fun all day.”

Fast forward to the bathroom at bedtime:

Me:  “Did you learn about September 11th today at school?”

Dylan: “Yes.  It happened before I was born.”

Me: “It was eleven years ago.”

Dylan: “Were you there?”

Me: “Yes.  Mommy and Daddy were both there.”

Dylan: “Did you see the fire?”

Me: “Yes.”

Dylan: “Were you in the fire?”

I was on the 2 train at the Wall Street stop when the first plane struck.  When the doors opened, strangers dove into the train crying, screaming, and praying.  I was so scared that I almost got off the train, but thank God I didn’t.  I stayed put until 14th Street where I emerged from the subway with a crystal clear view of the North Tower on fire.  Mike worked across the street from the World Trade Center.  He was there.  I didn’t find him until several terrifying hours later when he appeared at my office covered in dust.  He doesn’t like to talk about it, but he escaped death that morning.

Me: “No, but very close.”

Riley (on the toilet): “It’s my turn to talk!”

Me: “Hang on, sweetie, Mommy and Dylan are still talking.”

Dylan: “Was I in your belly when that happened?”

Me: “No, you were something we looked forward to, but you weren’t in my belly yet.”

Dylan: “Oh.  It was the twin towers and they had fire.  So many people died.”

Me: “Yes, a lot of people died.  It was sad.  Thankfully, Mommy and Daddy didn’t.  It was a very sad day.”

Dylan: “There was a lot of fire.”

Me:  “Yes, do you know what Mommy and Daddy learned that day?”

Dylan: “What?”

Me: “To be grateful for every moment we have with the people we love.  I love you.”

Riley (on the toilet): “Mommy, is it my turn to talk now?”

Me: “Yes, it’s your turn now.”

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Filed under September 11th, tough conversations