These are the instructions my storage folk were given, my list, but not my intro; I’m not quite this firm:

“The crew are to access the containers at our depot, find the contents below and deliver JUST these items to the new address. The items are:

Bar globe
Large cream trunk
Large canvas print x2 [Kim!]
Hoover
Box marked “kitchen”
Box marked “ornaments”
Chest of drawers x2
Bed side table x2
Large patent shelves x2
Coat stand
Free standing mirror
Hall clock
Burgundy suitcase
Female bust (sequinned)”

They brought everything except the shelves, and by virtue of a translation error they also brought my wedding dress and bouquet; the dress is back in storage, bouquet I only discovered after they had left.  Perhaps I’ll display it again one day, for now it is enough to know it is still perfect, but it doesn’t need to be a focal point of my new start.

It is a fabulous sign when you see your own items being returned as a joy – it has become clearer in this time of limited possessions what is important and precious to me.  The items I have missed the most are actually those I bought myself over the years.  Before I was involved in other people’s lives to the extent such that I couldn’t afford to buy anything for myself, I gave myself an annual bonus gift.  The primary of those was my pedigree cats…. then – over the years – a limited edition canvas print, a sequinned bust, the bar globe…..  And it makes me proud to have them once again in my home, cats not included, they’ve spent a year in storage, yet that doesn’t decrease their value to me.

Over the next few years I will be putting aside as much as I can for my future, but I guarantee I’ll be buying myself an annual bonus gift to pat myself on the back as I go.

The fact I accidentally bought the same jukebox as the “chief” from Big Fat Gypsy Weddings a few years ago doesn’t mean I have bad taste, I love that jukebox.  It just remains in storage, for now.