Atypical & Awesome, “I Wasn’t Going to Use it Anyway”

A pan is very rarely just a pan. Lately, I have been having random bursts of “Swedish Death Cleaning” which despite its morbid connotations is quite healing. It is the process of purging no longer needed items to keep your family members from having to do it after you are gone. It can be a beautiful thing.

So, back to the pan. Last night, I focused on the cabinets under the stove. Pans- so many frying pans of various sizes, odd contraptions I had acquired through the years- except for a select few- they were trashed. I kept my “nice” Teflon coated Pioneer Woman set but all those random oddities- the microwave popcorn popper, the way too small candy melt melter- trashed. It felt good mostly.

But- cleaning out still stings. Knowing that my life has changed and my kids are grown so I don’t need the butterfly shaped sandwich cutter anymore- yeah, it stings. So, although those pans have been taking up space for years- getting rid of them does symbolize the transitions ahead. Life was good, life is good, and life will continue to be good. We can go out to eat when everyone comes home- I wasn’t gonna use those pans anyway.