Upsizing: Backpacks to 10' UHauls

I moved apartments this weekend and while my DSL is functioning properly, my mind is not. I'll make this snappy. The past week has been a blur of packing, organizing, cleaning, trips to Goodwill, the dump and other various outlets that have graciously received bits of my overwhelming accumulation of things. The friends who helped me move were alarmed at the sheer volume of stuff I still possess even after paring it down.

I'd like to point out that I have lived in San Francisco almost my entire life and have never had to sell everything in order to pack off to begin a life in a new city with only two duffel bags and the clothes on my back. There's no family home where the memorabilia of my youth collects dust in an attic or garage, far away from storageless urban apartments. I know some people who have rooms in their family homes that have remained untouched for over a decade since they left for college; relics of the past frozen in time like some sort of suburban domesticity museum. Nope. Wherever I go, my parents' gold-leaf wedding china goes with me. Wherever I lay my hat, I lay my father's collection of antique cameras and my mother's photographs and letters from her years in the first Peace Corps mission (Ethiopia '62 - '64). I wouldn't have it any other way- but I might begin giving some thought to a storage unit.

One note on my new place before I hit the hay. My bedroom is an exhibitionist's dream. There are at least ten apartments that can see directly into it from a multitude of angles. Time to unpack my binoculars and invest in some curtains.