February 1, 1997

We're back. We're settled in. We love our new apartment. Move day brought us another round of un-pack and discard. Similar to what we faced when we left seventeen months ago. Only now our words have changed from "We don't need this" and "we should keep this" to "Why did we keep this?" and "do we really need this?" As one box was unloaded another was filled with all the things that we knew would just generate closet clutter. Since closet space is at a premium in this apartment - out they go. How can we possibly miss something that we haven't seen in a year and a half.

Besides, now we have new things to replace the old - statues from Morocco, rugs from Tibet, baskets from Indonesia, fossil plates and so many more things that all have stories to tell. We also have a whole shelf devoted just to our slides. I can already hear them yakking away.