Getting ready for Taiwan

The count is on.

13 days 'till we leave for Taiwan. I thought it was about time that I should get packing.

So I cleaned out my closet to go through my messy, messy, mountain of clothes and separate what I will take with me, clothes I will donate to DI, and clothes that are too ragged to let anyone else wear in public. It was amazing how many memories there were in just that closet. I had a whole world in that closet.

I found a beach coverall that was stained browned on the bottom from getting wet too many times on the beach on Maui. I found a skirt I bought on the streets of San Francisco while visiting Erin. I found a Star Wars t-shirt I got when I went to the premier of Episode 1, with a kid I didn't know (he just wanted a date). I found a shirt I got in London that I had been keeping for memories sake (but it had pit stains...sadly...). I even found a shirt that I wore on the first day of High School. The shirt I wore on my first date with my boyfriend. The shirts that said, "Don't worry, be happy!" and "LOVE MORE." My old scrub tops when I used to work as a CNA. The many shirts I stole from old college roommates. The ol' stained nightshirt I took from my uncle who passed away last year. The many shiny Chinese-style tops my mom used to buy for me that I never wore...

Most of them ended up in the DI box. It's kind of sad to see them for the last time, but they'd just sit there doing nothing if I didn't get rid of them. It was just nice to see physical reminders of places I've been, people I've met. Sometimes I just get caught up in what I have to do today and I forget about everything I did in the past. Sometimes I just get so frustrated with my life and feel like I'm going nowhere, but my closet disproved that. I've met people, made friends, reconnected with family, discovered my family. My life, as a whole, isn't as bleak as I always feel it is. There are the memories, and those memories motivate me to live for the future.