Our new hometown, Carcassonne, is situated in southwest France right in the heart of Cathar country. It only seems fitting, therefore, that we should have had a catharsis this morning with the emptying of our closets. It was quite freeing to let go of clothes that we purchased as recently as a few months ago to our tuxedos that we bought when we lived in Chicago nearly 30 years ago. And why did we need five cummerbunds and matching bow ties that you see here? Those tuxes used to accompany us on an annual cruise and we certainly could not show up from one year to the next with the same accessories. By skillful trading of cummerbunds, ties, studs, and cufflinks, we were able to come up with “new” outfits for quite a few cruises.

A few weeks ago I posted a photo showing that my closet was still very full but now was evolving from the dark, serious clothes I needed for work to the much brighter ones more appropriate to a new chapter and  adventure in a new country. Here is that same closet where the entire top shelf now includes only empty hangers. What remains will easily fit into one suitcase. If that’s not a purification (original Greek word katharos) and purge (katharsis) then I don’t know what is. To top it off, Bill’s already on his way to drop off everything at the charity shop.