Two Lifetimes for Sale

I tend to be a sentimentalist when it comes to determining what I throw away and what I keep. Not a pack rat--I'll gladly junk random stuff--but things that are emotionally significant to me are harder to part with.

The first time I went through my stuff and my grandma's, a few years ago, I pitched a sizable amount, but based my decisions on the fact that I had an attic. Well, now I'm moving to California, where I'm going to have a broom-closet-sized storage room without climate control. My dad is planning to move and downsize, too, now that he's nearly seventy and no longer has relatives in the area.

There are no more attics. It's time to really pare down.