Purgation

Five hours. Five hours to sort through bags of clothing. How does a single 32 year old man have five hours worth of clothes to sort? I won’t even mention the number of shoes I own. I’ll just refer to it as ‘dozens.’ Yes with an ‘s.’ Nine pair of Birkenstocks I believe. None of which have been worn in 5 years except for the fabrication sandals I used to build the bumpers and roll cages for my cruisers. Those made it to the trash a few weeks ago. So really 5 hours! Fortunately the Pads and Giants are in extra innings.

So the 5 piles consisted of one for the trash, one for donation, one for the clothes I want once I get back. Another for the clothes I need to wear before I leave and finally one for the clothes I’ll need for my trip. As long and boring as this process was it was also quite cathartic. I guess those Air Jordan IVs? I had lying around since 1992 weren’t as important as I thought they were. Except of course to prove that my feet have shrunk 2.5 shoe sizes since my Sr. year in high school. I blame it on the afore-mentioned Birkenstocks. Tomorrow, I begin to ditch all the things in my ‘junk drawer’ and the junk box, junk backpack, junk Rubbermaid. Needless to say this trip will have numerous tertiary benefits. Ditching 15 years of crap is just one of them.

As the FJ40 parts also begin to diminish the reality of selling Althea is starting to hit home. I’m not sure I’m emotionally prepared yet to get rid of her. She’s just an automobile. A bunch of steel, painted with multi-hued primer and paint, some petroleum and rubber can’t really be that important is it? Well she is far more than that. She is the genesis of the majority of my close friendships that I have now. She is the source of 95% of my mechanical knowledge. She is hundreds of hot sweaty hours in Ratio, with my friend Ryan, rebuilding axles, welding and grinding on roll cages, bumpers and sliders. She is Cat Canyon, the Rubicon and Upper Helldorado. She is the afternoon Bush and I spent tearing her down to a frame. She is more than a bunch of parts assembled in Japan over 40 years ago. She is a salient figure in my life since I picked her up on my birthday back in 1998. Very little remains the same since that day. She and I have both evolved. She is far better than when I found her in that backyard field in Murray. I like to think I am as well. I guess I now realize I’ve been so hesitant to post her for sale. Maybe if I start using the word ‘it’ instead of ‘her’ it will be easier. I’ll try that.

dmc