2016: Strolling with my sister and DH in the Midwest neighborhood where I grew up. The past several months I've been slowly emptying stuff out of closets, drawers, garage shelves, and cupboards. We've logged 10 years in our current place, but never fully unpacked boxes stacked neatly out of the way from 30 years of togetherness. It's surreal to mark three decades since I chucked just about everything I had from my old life and started over at 32. I flew cross-country with two suitcases. Meeting me on the other end a week later was a small truck holding my mattress and a few smaller pieces of furniture and pots and pans that I paid to move. Today, the act of pruning belongings and surrendering mementos and stuff is both liberating and emotionally taxing. What to Keep and What to Let Go Diving into boxes of things that once seemed impossible to toss (all those old memories!), today feels less impossible but still requires time to sort and filter. Contained within: file f...