A sponge, a bucket and lots of red dirt

It's amazing how much dirt can fit into a camper...particularly a camper utilized by men, merely for the essentials, only for the better part of the past two years. . . I spent the morning cleaning. . . I began at one end - the bathroom - and cleaned until I ran out of space to put stuff that needs to leave. I took my time scrubbing in cracks and crevices, under, over, inside, outside and all around every surface you can imagine. I was done with more than half the camper in less than two hours time. And that included packing up the stuff that belongs to my boyfriend's parents (as the camper belongs to them - they have not used it since long before we began building - not for vacationing or camping at least anyway).

On a quick side note, let me introduce you to my boyfriend, I'd hate to just refer to him as 'my boyfriend' throughout this entire blog. . . his name is Clint. We've lived together for just about 3 years now. I would describe our relationship as fantastically fulfilling on a variety of levels. We are both very independent people who, even if we don't totally understand each other, respect each other. He is an incredibly industrious thinker who, I am convinced, can do absolutely anything he puts his mind to.

So anyway, back to the dirt. . . there's not much to say other than there is a lot less of it inside the camper now. As I was cleaning I was thinking about how cleaning coincides with and can sometimes symbolize a new beginning. . . a renewal. I'm not sure where that comes from, but its all through our lives (mine at least. . . ). I mean I start each day with a shower - renewal, a new beginning!

So the whole cleansing ritual combined with the purging that is soon to commence has generated a tiny buzz of excitement inside of me. I'm terrified of this change and often am overwhelmed with the fear of what we do if it doesn't work out. . . where will we go if something happens with the camper? To my parents house? This close to 30 years old, I'd rather die before even considering that as an option. But at the same time, I'm more excited than I've been in a long time to be taking such a chance and, for a change, to be taking a risk with someone rather than alone.

Anyway, so before I can proceed with any other real work out there, I have to get some of, if not all of, Clint's parents' belongings out. This will give me room to finish cleaning as well as the opportunity to see how much space we'll really have for things. The more I cleaned today, the more storage space I found. I'm still thinking it's gonna be a fun time!