The sun warmed the streets of Seattle today. The blue skies inspired me so I took a drive to visit Airstream Bambi.

Once inside the familiar cocoon, I stripped the bed of the sheets and comforter, rearranged the drawers, cleaned out the stacks of maps I collected during my travels. Reminders of the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, state parks I’ve camped at…took up valuable space. There were many instances when I’ve contemplated throwing out this stack of papers. But the same question came up…should I keep these as mementos of adventures I’ve been on?

Today was different as I thought about the upcoming Lunar New Year – specifically, about the superstition about cleaning out your home before the new year – and instead of holding on, I took a deep breath and tossed it all into a recycling bin.

Bambi is not my full-time home but it’s a place where I feel most at home. And in this little sanctuary, I got rid of the old to make space for new adventures.