Unpacking Boxes...

So my mom calls - for probably the 8th time - and says, "when you get the chance, if you could come home and sort through your stuff in the garage..."

What she's referring to is an enormous pile of my boxes and belongings from a move 6 years ago. Long story - to be told in another place (and I'll even link to it from here) - but suffice to say, I moved home to LA, and dropped a ton of boxes at my parents' house.

This past week, I returned some borrowed camping equipment, and as I was standing in my parents' garage, I started "sorting through my stuff." My big decision was to return to Culver City with my books, which, as an English major who also got a Theology degree, you can imagine the stockpile of literature and reference material I amassed over 8 years of higher education.

It's true: I own a small library.

It's weird what you pack, not knowing what you'll need, thinking it's important. Some of my discoveries amazed me:

• A stack of bills - obviously unpaid - neatly piled in a box with stuff from my desk.
• A complete set of audio tapes from Forest Home's college Briefing '97 (I think) - with Brennan Manning speaking. Thank God I drive a 1999 Toyota with a tape deck.
• A journal from college. Oh, the things I wrote about that girl. And the terrible poetry we write in college. I mean - really awful stuff. If you're my friend, someday we'll drink wine and read it and laugh hysterically.
• My copy of Against Forgetting, edited by Carolyn Forche - a wonderful, powerful book of 20th century poetry written in the midst of some of the worst suffering imaginable. I was so afraid I'd lost this book, and so glad to find it again. And - while we're on Carolyn Forche - read her poetry. It's phenomenal.
• 5 years of GQ Magazines. Truly. I packed, and paid to ship, probably 200 pounds of fashion and style advice from 6-10 years ago. Really? Really.
• I own 9 copies of the Bible. 6 versions. Not including my Greek New Testament (hey - where's my Septuagint? Next box...) and Hebrew Testaments (I have 2 of those). If you're buying me a present, for mercy's sake, skip the Bible aisle. Unless it's a version I don't have, in which case it's totally cool.
• I have a copy of every Hymnal the Presbyterian Church has published since 1933. Which means I own 3 Hymnals, including the 1990 doggerel, with that time honored favorite "Earth and All Stars" with the epic line "Loud boiling test tubes... sing to the Lord a new song" . Why I keep that trash is beyond me; perhaps its so I can write lines like this, and use words like "doggerel."
• I didn't know I owned a copy of The Catcher in the Rye. I was so glad to see it - tucked away under MacBeth, Hamlet, Othello, Measure for Measure, and the Tempest (in addition to a host of others). Holden would riot if he knew that's where he lived for 6 years. Part of me is wondering if I packed it that way to be ironic.

It's interesting. Each box has its mystery and discovery and "ooh what's next" quality. It's a bit like Christmas, without the wrapping. Also, I'm finding that my bookshelves are not as vast and limitless as I once thought: my humidor may have to be moved to make room for the stampeding hordes.

One last thing: my bookshelves are wood with glass shelves. I really hope they don't break. And I hope Crate and Barrel still sells them; I might need more.