goodbye, couch

{school days} mixed media collage painting on 8" x 10" canvas

The couch in our living room was a heavy sofa bed. When we moved in to our second story (but three flights of stairs up) apartment last year it was a real task. We said then that we would not move it again. This brown sectional sofa was my parents. They had it back when I first met Alex (I was fifteen). They had it during his first trip to visit (17). They gave it to us when we got our first apartment together in Los Angeles now over two years ago. We carted it to our storage unit after being married and then again here. This couch has been around and we've been lucky to have it. But now, it's time for a new couch. One that's new and all our own. I didn't think I would miss the brown couch but when I was vaccuming it and getting it ready for it's new home, I started to get a little sad. My mom was nice enough to list it on Freecycle and I knew the family coming to get it would be a good one and really needed it. I started to think about my own memories with my things- my "stuff" and then feeling sad for all those people that lost ALL of their "stuff" in natural disasters like the tsunami and hurricane katrina. Even if it was just stuff, that stuff means something to them; it holds memories. Reading fellow scrapbooker, Aimee's story, just ONE PERSON, is so sad!