Cleaning out the old and heralding in the new often creates milestones in life.
Cleaning is usually a daunting task but it is worth it in the end.
I remember when Dad had just finished building our apartment which means we would have to relocate to a new place and leave the rented apartment, Good news you will say.
Dad broke the news to me and my siblings, I was particularly unhappy, not because it wasn't good news but because I knew I would have to leave my friends and some other belongings which my parent will see as unnecessary behind, in fact, I visualized the daunting task ahead of us, which means we would intentionally keep the house a mess to make it clean and clear again, (decluttering and organizing)which will take a few days to achieve.
"We have to start rearranging our belongings before the said date of relocation", my dad said to all of us.
It was the weekend and each person was assigned a room to clean, being the youngest, I was assigned to work with Mom, which means I would clean her room alongside her. Lucky me๐
The cleaning started with the clothes in the wardrobe which has to be folded in different boxes now, while at it, my eyes stumbled on an old box that looked like a safe just beneath her bed and then I picked it up, therein lies old photos which were now old skool (school) to me, many were now in white and black and some were already fading.
Image is mine.
We paused for a while as Mom decided to take me down memory lane of her youth, for each picture I touched had a story behind it which made the whole cleaning experience fun, I was sure my siblings overheard us laughing as they ran into the room we were, mom carried them along and I could notice my older sibling flipping through the photo album and busted into laughter, pointing at a particular person in the photo, I wasn't sure who it was as I took a glance and then I curiously asked "Mom, who is this? "It's you while you were much younger" she replied. And then I busted into laughter, I was looking so small and chubby, and the next minute I flipped to the next picture which triggered some memories, which was my first graduation party after primary school.
It reminded me of my friends and my class teacher, I reminisced about the good old days, and I started to tell my mom about my class teacher and why I loved her, I particularly took that picture out of the box, to keep the memories alive.
"When we get to the new house, I would stick this photo on my mirror ", I excitedly told Mom.
A few minutes later, my siblings went back to their assigned room and got back to work while I and my mom continued cleaning the room.
While cleaning, we brought out so many old items which were not in use anymore, I swept the room, Mom arranged some clothes she would love to give out and then we burnt the ones which weren't important, after the cleaning, the room was light and I could feel some sort of new air, like a breath of fresh air, it was calm and serene as I was ready to move into our new apartment owned by my parents as it seemed to me that my mindset had now been cleaned too.
The whole house was now free of many unused items as we patiently waited for the said day to relocate as this cleaning had set us for new milestones in our lives.
After cleaning, Dad and Mom sat us down and reminded us how we needed to begin our lives on a clean slate in the new area we were relocating to and how we should be of good behavior too, new house, new items, on a new slate.๐คญ๐คญ well, moving to a new apartment isn't a bad thing at all, it's just a part of life. So I was ready to move on leaving behind my friends in that neighborhood and some of my old items, new experiences were set before me and I was ready to embrace it all.