Life With Possessions
Six years ago, after my father
passed away after a three month illness, I had a brief epiphany.
It happened like this. After the funeral,
I went back to work for a few months before I was able to return to spend a
week at his house—the house I grew up in—sorting through things and trying to
get the place ready for someone else.
This was where my family
resided for forty-seven years. Nearly fifty years in the life of our family was
successfully layered there, as my mother saved things—Christmas cards from old
friends over the years, receipts for major purchases, Life Magazine issues from
major events like the Apollo Moon missions. She wasn’t a hoarder like the
people we see on reality shows these days. But she did want
some record for some imagined future. As I worked, I slowed down. Some things were impossible to get rid of--after my sister died in a car accident, for example, her room had remained her room, and many of her dresses from high school were still there.
After my mother died, my dad didn't really want to get rid of her stuff either.
The house was small, too. As I
sorted, I began to wonder about all of what I was going through, and then I
realized something about my own possessions.
I had more than enough. And some
day, if things didn’t change, I would be gone and my kids would be sorting
through my stuff.
I decided then that I had a choice to make. I had spent a life accumulating
things. What if I were to spend the next thirty years getting rid of things?
What if I stopped getting birthday presents and Christmas presents? What if I
spent birthdays bringing my stuff to Good Will or giving it away—the stuff that
was still good?
I might find myself in my
eighties, if I live that long, with an empty little apartment.
I decided to begin
my backward movement.I left things behind.I finally understood why some people had garage sales.
But it didn’t last long. I tried for a few weeks, but then I had to take
all the stuff we decided to save from my dad’s house, and that sits in our house now with all of our junk.
But I’m still thinking about it.
What isn’t going to matter? What is worth keeping, and what should I get rid
of?
I’m working on it, and I still
accept presents, of course.
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