August 26, 2007

Back to college

It didn't take long. I opened the plastic bag of bedding and made the bed: black sheets, a red blanket, a black and white quilt, three pillows in red and black. My daughter carried in the laundry basket of clothes, mostly just black t-shirts although the Bob Dylan one is brown, and hung them in the closet. Two towels and two frisbees went on the top shelf. Boy in Black shoved the plastic crate of socks and underwear into the closet, leaving room for the empty laundry basket. He opened the cardboard box of desk supplies, took out his printer and his lamp, and then dumped a bag of pens and pencils and such into the drawer.

Moving Boy in Black back into his dorm room took less than fifteen minutes. I know monks who have more worldly possessions than he does.

8 comments:

Amy Palko said...

I'm afraid I come from a long line of hoarders. My family's store of anecdotes includes several about different family members and the trials and tribulations of moving them in and out of various locations, including dorm rooms. I've decided now that I just need to accept that it's part of my genetic inheritance, this need to hoard. However, I think my mother was wishing I was of a more minamalist persuasion when she helped me move out of dorms!
By the way, I've started a new blog. I'm keeping up Textual Tangents but only as a professional blog. Lives Less Ordinary is a blog of a more personal sort. I'd love to hear what you thought of it!

Unknown said...

I share your amusement. My son took less than ten minutes to pack up and move too. Ironically, it has taken precisely 32 trips to the store, 16 lists, four catalogs and three summer months for my daughter to pack for college (and we still have three weeks left and at least one more shopping trip).

Why is that?

um yeah said...

Wow. It has taken me more that 15 minutes to make the list of things I am bringing with me to college.

kathy a. said...

my sisters and i planned like there was no going back, when we went to college. and so planning for my daughter, the first of her generation to head off to the dorm, has been going on for a while -- at least since christmas, when she got a big box of dorm supplies. she'll be hundreds of miles away, out of state, and in a colder climate, so we have some excuses for taking extra care. [the ipod and multiple accessories? that was the auntie version of spoiling to death.]

BeachMama said...

Wow, that was fast. Those supplies would last me about a week and I would be adding to it in no time flat. Has your daughter officially moved in to her place?

YourFireAnt said...

Jo(e),

Boy in Black is now my ROLE MODEL!!


Still in the decluttering wars....

FA

jo(e) said...

Beachmama: My daughter moved into her place right after we came back from vacations. She didn't bring much stuff either: it all fit into the back seat of the car. But she has three apartment mates with tons of stuff ....

Rana said...

After our move this summer, I find myself missing the days when all my worldly goods (including cat) could fit into a VW Bug!