The Rookie Mama
As a continually aspiring minimalist – amusingly so – I understand fully that keeping life clutter-free is a persistent challenge that’s real in a full house of six.
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I’ve somewhat wired my brain to recognize that our memories are in our mind, not in our stuff, and so we don’t need to clamor for clutter which only leads to chaos.
But alas, our children feel particular connection to their treasure troves of classroom valentines and goody bag trinkets of years gone by.
Nothing but fluff and filler, like the tulle of one of my old prom gowns.
Because each item appears to hold a memory, where in reality, our boys – not these things – are the ones truly keeping said memory.
Keeping it clean is a massive effort to which we continue to work toward.
But in the meantime, how do we manage to store the items we legitimately do need to operationalize daily living – specifically here, summer camping?
As any family with young kiddos can attest, packing up to go anywhere for even a couple of hours can make the back of one’s family-mobile look like they’re packing up for camp.
So how do we manage when we really are packing for camp?
Our dearest darling family minivan – she’s 20 years old, steel gray and tough, naturally and appropriately named Millenium Falcon – is filled to the brim with our assembly line of items each time we pack to go upta camp.
It’s a massive Tetris effort to assemble the normally shaped items – such as coolers – with awkwardly shaped ones – We’re looking at you, fishing poles.
Typically we make it fit and it’s a team effort; our boys even each get to hold something on their laps.
They get the routine.
We’re all in this together, as the High School Musical kiddos sing.
But we’ve bordered on packing in so sardine-tight that our rear-views have become nearly obscured at times.
When we’re facing a safety hazard, we’ve got to loosen up the sardine-tightness and return to Goldfish crackers as our choice fish.
A dear friend of ours whose kids had grown offered us a rooftop storage unit for our beloved Falcon.
It was a generous offer, but did we need it?
Purchasing storage units of any kind must be considered thoughtfully, because our ultimate goal is to de-clutter, not simply organize our clutter, as is the true purpose of storage shelves and boxes.
My husband and I immediately accepted, because we knew that the alternative included potential driving hazards.
Getting an askew fishing pole to the head or being blocked by a sleeping bag posing as the object-in-the-mirror-closer-than-they-appear as we go into hyperspeed toward Tatooine?
Nah, I’ll pass.
This rooftop storage unit has truly been a game changer, and keeps our bonus items safe and sound. It was easy to install, and offers a bit more breathing room in the family van for the win.
Peace of mind and full on visibility is key when we’ve got the most precious cargo of all – the full-house-plus-extra buckled into safety belts and whatever combination of car seats and boosters.
This handed-down gift has seen much – Bumper stickers naming universities where the former owners’ grown children attended adorn the Thule unit, and we’ll blink and be in the same place before we know it.
Because we can store camp gear safely away from blocking side mirrors to our heart’s desire, but one thing we can never slow down is our children’s fleeting time with us.
Talk about time coming at us, that end date of all kiddos under one roof being closer-than-they-appear.
Hyperspeed.
And in the meantime, we can look on the bonus bright side –
The Falcon’s easy to spot in a parking lot.
– Michelle Cote lives in southern Maine with her husband and four sons, and enjoys camping, distance running, biking, gardening, road trips to new regions, arts and crafts, soccer, and singing to musical showtunes – often several or more at the same time!
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