Stuff

I have a lot of stuff. We’re talking major league here – collected over a lot of years and schlepped from one house to another across more miles than I care to count up. I have stuff, I’m sure, that I don’t actually know I have, still packed in boxes that have the label of a moving company I used back in 1981.

So I’ve been cleaning closets – determined to rid myself of some of this stuff. I ran across a grass mat that I bought in Hawaii in 1983 for $1 to use on the beach. That's sure been worth hauling around from Alaska to Oregon to California to Kentucky. I have single gloves that must, by now, have historical significance, or something. Since I used to be a quilter, I have stacks and stacks of fabric scraps that never did go together – I just bought them because they were calico and on sale I guess. And they’ve moved with me ever since.

And I’m not just keeping my own stuff. I have drawers and boxes and shelves stuffed with my son’s stuff too. Stuff that I know he’ll throw right away if threatened the return of – things like the “Road to the Final Four” t-shirt from 1997 and a Chicago Cubs jersey with Sammy Sosa’s name on it. Well, maybe he’d keep those, but I bet he’d toss his “honor student” t-shirts from high school and the prom glasses I’ve carefully stored. And while I don’t know that he has any particular interest in his baby clothes, books, stuffed animals, toys and crib, I can’t bear to part with them myself. Don’t even get me started on the baseball card collection. Or the Legos!

Does anyone else ever throw old purses away? Not me. Or old keys. Or jackets, or knit tops or cooking utensils.

I'm lucky to have had houses with attics and basements and crawl spaces and all kinds of “collector-enabler” room, over the years. I can't stand clutter, but when I can hide it away... it seems to just stay. This house has huge closets and an unfinished basement that one of my friends threatens to use as a skating rink, so there is still plenty of room in spite of it all. While we’ve moved around a bit (an opportunity that most people would take to cull the excess) our moves have always been through 'corporate relocation services' and they just send professionals in to pack and carry without regard to value – even the trash comes along. I never have enough advance notice to do something about it.

So stuff has collected. Well, now I have the time. No more excuses. Onward! I'll beat this stuff down yet.