Return of the Magick Room

Ever have something you know you need to do, but it's a huge endeavor, so you put it off? And you put it off and you put it off, and then it becomes this huge thing hanging over your head? By then, it just seems impossible to accomplish, so you keep putting it off, and it becomes this huge weight hanging over your head.

This is what my son's old room was like for me. It was a HUGE mess, and I'm talking seriously gross. I won't go into details of parent vs child and all that stuff, because it's just plain more complicated than a simple "Go clean your room!" So for nearly a year, his room has been upstairs, unused, laying in wait, it's closed door looming at me each time I passed it. I don't know how the kid could stand to sleep in there, it was seriously disgusting. It got so I was avoiding the Looming Door, and because the Looming Door opened off my Craft Room, I began avoiding my Craft Room. Then my Craft Room started getting messy with me just throwing things in there rather than taking the time to organize, thus adding weight to that yoke already weighing heavily around my neck.

On top of the grossness, though, was the fact that the room was in an unusable state. Real estate is expensive, and this room was occuping nearly $9000 worth of square footage. Add the Craft Room, and that's nearly $40,000 of unused real estate! The room had been my Magick Room several years before I moved my son into it, and I really wanted to restore it to that - though it will also do double duty as second guest room. I had to get some motivation, so I scheduled a party. When it comes to my friends and parties, people stay the night. And not just any party, we're talking Samhain. I just needed to get started.

So, I called up my good friend Esther, and asked her to please, please, please help. Then my good friend Shawn volunteered, and the three of us got in there this past Saturday and started digging it out. They helped me get about half the trash out before we were all disgusted enough to need a drink and a good hand washing. That was the end of that for Saturday, but I could actually see the floor of the room! Progress! I woke up on Sunday totally motivated. I ate breakfast, had some coffee, cracked a window in the room to let out all the icky nasties, and went to town. It took me another three hours to get the rest of the trash out of the room, for a total count of 10 full bags of trash (tall kitchen bags). I found a few dishes and silverware I didn't know I was missing, and an assload of laundry, which included a ton of Rick's and my socks Luke had 'borrowed'. The sheets nearly stood on their own when I took them off the bed. Then it was another three hours of dusting, vacuuming and scrubbing, all the while my washer was doing overtime on bedding. I finished at about 6pm last night ... and here it is, my Magick Room!

Once I got the room done, I realized the weight of that room was a lot more than I thought. I noticed how much it really affected the rest of my house. I had avoided doing the deep cleaning, and the main floor is starting to show it. With my Magick Room restored, the weight has been lifted, and I am motivated to continue getting my house clean from top to bottom. It's hard to describe just what a great feeling it is. At the same time, I experienced a feeling of loss. My little boy is all grown up. There's no "Luke's Room" anymore. So, I left the window cracked to 'air it out' so to speak, and tonight I will smudge and bless it.