March 24, 2011

a case of over-purging

I'd say about 99% of the time I'm perfectly happy about what I've gotten rid of when I do my occasional mini purges, and even through the years, the larger ones that come before (or sometimes just after) moving. Sure, there's that pair of pants that I wish I hadn't been so quick to hand over or a toy here and there that the kids really did miss. But really, most of the time it's been just peachy.
But yesterday, while walking Evelyn to school, and by walking I mean carrying her the four short blocks between our house and her school ("my legs are so tired!") I realized I may have over purged a few months ago when I ditched our stroller.

We haven't used a stroller in ages. It had been sitting in our basement for months, gathering dust, taking up room, so off it went. And normally that wouldn't be a problem except I'm thinking that short legs + long New York blocks is going to equal the need for a stroller once again. Ugg.

I know, I'm not going to want a stroller on the subway and for those big trips around town, we did without on those trips in Dublin as well. It's the walk to the park and the grocery store and other neighborhood spots that I have a sneaking suspicion that a stroller will be handy for. At least until my little walking wimp gets her city legs.

We could, of course, just buy one of those cheap umbrella strollers. The thing is, we did that when we moved to Dublin with Briton (who was two years younger than Evie, but about the same weight) and about a week in the thing collapsed on us, on him to be precise, a few miles from home. It still gives me a little bit of a twitch to remember trying to get him out of the thing (and get him and our groceries home while dragging a disintegrating stroller). So I have a little bit of a phobia about crappy strollers. The one we got rid of was the same stroller that replaces the ill fated Dublin stroller. A Maclaren that cost far more than I ever thought I'd spend on a stroller but nevertheless turned out to be well worth it, it was still going strong when I took it to Salvation Army a few weeks ago. Bad timing I guess.

I would like to say lesson learned, but since I had not a single thought in my head a mere three weeks ago that we would ever go visit New York much less move there, I can't say that I could have predicted this, even if I'd thought long and hard about it.

So the purging will go on, and at the same time I'll be cruising Craigslist for a replacement stroller. C'est la vie. Have you ever thrown out something and then really needed it almost immediately after?