Well it seems, true to form, we have upgraded our furniture with someone else’s that needed re-homing. I should clarify also, that by upgrade, I mean added a complete set to our upstairs, pushing our hodgepodge collection down which now has our downstairs rec room bursting at the seams. The NEW stuff, complete with evidence it was at one time a cat scratch post, fills our living room nicely. It is warm and inviting, and the kids have been seat dropping their hearts out(trampoline is away for the winter). It’s interesting to look at the new stuff upstairs (clean and sharp) and the old downstairs (dog hair covered and moderately worn;). I am not seeing it as clutter (it is), but as a collection of our life’s memories and some very comfortable lounge areas. We have generational furniture inherited from grandmothers that take my wife to her childhood and create reading spaces and movie rooms for my children. We have recliners that are amazingly comfortable for hockey watching and saw many a playoff game as we worked through university and set out into our careers. There is a mishmash of chairs acquired from our realtor when we bought this, our first home, and these have filled our basement rooms as have the tenants we have hosted. We have been lucky to have our chairs support a young lawyer, a teacher, students and profs from far and wide. There is still more furniture to mention: the teacher’s desk, the friends love seat, and the buffet/desk/storage unit extraordinaire. All of these pieces reminders of the ebb and flow of life. Reminders that we have had wonderful adventures, unique opportunities and many great friendships along the way. We’ll see if the new used actually replaces the used or if it is just another migration of loungers. One thing is clear, photo albums take up way less space!