Final decisions are hard, but in the long run, stuff is just stuff, right? Today I revisited Christmas, 83 of them, and kept one small box of ornaments, two small layered boxes of nativities, and the rest have gone to Mary and Nancy, and to the unknowns who will visit Goodwill looking for things for their homes.
There’s a bit of nostalgia involved. Ev wanted the Victorian lanterns and blown ornaments from his youth. We kept the train ornaments and the few “first home” and handprints from grandchildren, and kitty’s first Christmas things. We are dismissing probably three-fourths of the nativities and well over half of the ornaments.
Now, we can begin a new life in a new place, knowing full well that our kids will one day have to dismiss the stuff we haven’t dismissed. God bless them that day, for it will mean they are satisfied with what they have, and it is sufficient.
I think of the book of Ecclesiastes which tells us that all is hevel…expendable. We are to lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth, and I’ve become somewhat dispassionate about several items I’ve given houseroom through ten moves over our fifty-four years. It’s just time.
Just cleaned out the “junk” drawer in the kitchen. Oh, my. How many loose toothpicks can you accumulate in sixteen years? And how many sets of chopsticks? It took four of us to make all those decisions, too.
All those resolutions we made: whenever we bring something new into the house, the old has to go, right? That’s why we found nine potholders, three trivets, a baby spoon, rubber bands all bound together by unknown forces, and a too-long wooden spoon that wouldn’t fit in the container by the stove.
We haven’t barbecued in three years. Why do we have skewers in four different lengths, both in wood and steel? Hmm. And why three knife-sharpeners and three nutcrackers and six nut picks. We haven’t cracked nuts in this house even once.
Just sent four crewel pieces done back in the 1970’s when it was popular, a turkey lacer set without any pins and with string that I wouldn’t think of putting near food, and several rubber scrapers with pieces mission. Wonder if we ate those little chunks thinking the meat was a bit tough. Who knows. Somehow we survived.
The contac paper is gone, the new owner can put her own, and I’m overhearing the conversations: “what on earth is that?” and “we don’t need those any more,” and “we should have done this ages ago.”
Maybe moving is a good thing. Mary as the right question: Anything else we have to sort out for Goodwill?” She and Linda Almarales are good at decisions like,”Are you ever really going to use this again? Bless someone else with it.”
Good advice.
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