Sweet Victory

My basement is the boss of me. No, really. Until yesterday, that is. I told it who was boss and it feels amazing.

My basement has been a thorn in my side since I moved in over a year ago. Anything that I didn't want to deal with promptly went to the basement for a future date when I might need it. Sadly, I never need most of it, so the "future usage" translates to "where my items go to die or to harbor large spiders and bugs with a million legs that I'm pretty sure belong in the Smithsonian".

Yesterday I locked myself in the basement and tackled about 30 boxes. Some of them held useful items and some were empty but being stored on the off chance we moved immediately after I move in. Remember those first few months in my new abode where ceilings were falling and leaking, and AC units were throwing in the towel? In light of those incidents, I told the Hubs that I wasn't unpacking everything I owned because we were moving the very next day. A year later, there they sat.

Yesterday was a lot of work and it was certainly not a glamorous afternoon. I killed spiders, swatted away cobwebs from my yoga pants, and at one point had to talk myself down from a stage 5 panic attack when I set a box down and found 5 spider egg cocoons clinging to my pant leg. There was immediate sweating, a dry heave or two, and the quiet muttering to myself of "it's okay, just walk slowly as to not disturb them and create an early "birthing" of whatever is there. One. Step. At. A Time. Don't panic, they can sense fear." By the grace of God, I made it over to my paper towel stash and the trash can in a slow yet ninja like float across the room without any spider explosions. Phew! I probably would've died on the spot from heart failure if I had been covered in hundreds of baby spiders. No exaggeration needed.

Why share this mundane detail of my life? Because when you're finally free from bondage, there is this emotional release that must be shared. If I had a mountain top, I'd be on it shouting. I am free. I am the boss of our basement now. Me. And apparently the resident spiders. But at least I have eliminated 95% of their hiding places and squashed their children. And given over time, I will conquer them too.

Freedom feels amazing. Victory has never tasted so sweet, and yet slightly like Raid at the same time. I'll take it.