This upcoming weekend promises to be a big one in terms of things: The Ravishing Mrs. TB and I are meeting at The Ranch and looking through things one last time. I say "looking through things". What I am (selfishly) hoping to get out of this is either a verification or retaining or get rid of things I have currently set aside for saving.
Moving as I have has been a very eye opening experience in any number of ways. One of the biggest - and most surprising to me - has simply been my changing view of the things I own.
While most of my things are here with me, a few remain back in New Home - in this case among them, almost 30 years of journals (those, of course, are coming). But things scattered about a largish home are very different from those same things in an apartment. And it is not just the nature of the things filling up every space - they do not (although my bookshelves might argue otherwise). It is the question of "do I use the things I have now?"
A simple example.
Prior to the move, I easily had 60 or more T-shirts of various types from sporting events and colleges and just "ones" that had been purchased for me. I agonizingly let go of about 20 of them but consoled myself with the 40 or so that I kept. Upon arrival at New Home 2.0, I discovered that closet space in an apartment is quite different than closet space in a house. The T-shirts went from hanging in a closet to being carefully folded in a drawer.
An odd thing happened over the Summer. Turns out that you can only wear one T-shirt at a time, and the T-shirts that make "the cut" are far less than the T-shirts in the drawer.
I am being fair with myself as - given the advent of "The Coldening" which I am reliably informed lasts from now until March or April - likely few of these will be worn. I will give myself another full Spring and Summer cycle. But if they are not worn then, off they go to the donation pile.
I like to believe that other than books, I do not have a lot of "stuff". But that is a bit of misnomer. I have multiple training weapons for iaijutsu, a few random bladed weapons that caught my eye, and the sorted through kitsch that we all seem to get over time, the sort of thing that means a lot to me - but not necessarily to my heirs.
Sort of like the stuff at The Ranch.
Like the tree that Rumi speaks of above, I am trying to let things fall away instead of holding on to them, especially things that no longer mean once they once meant. It hard - far harder than I anticipated. And likely it is going to taking far longer than I anticipated.
But maybe that is okay. As long as I can slow the acquisition, I can hopefully reach a balanced state where I have what I need, perhaps what I even enjoy - but no more. After all, trees have all the leaves they need, but not one more.
Ah, the winnowing continues. Any T-shirt that fits under another long sleeved shirt since the "Coldening" has arrived? Apartment living IS different from house living TB. Around here by the end of this month long underwear will be making the appearance since I've become an old guy.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, I think this will come in waves. Now that I know that, I can be a little more free flowing in how I approach things. I do not have to push myself to do it all in one go; if it is not in this one, it may be in the next one.
DeleteOne of my projects that I hope to accomplish some day soon is to build some sort of storage case with shelves to hold my 30 years worth of journals, my dad's 30 years worth of journals and my grandfather's 30 years worth of journals. Right now the latter two reside in a plastic tote in my basement while my journals sit on the top shelf of my closet.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I did when I inherited all my mom's clothing which had lots of T-shirts that meant something to her because they represented events she participated in while alive, is to give them to a local quilter who cut out the meaningful panels and turned them into a throw blanket. During the winter months, we all fight for it while lounging around the house.
Ed, sounds similar to how mine were organized - originally on a shelf in the closet, now in a tote. I will say having them readily at hand is handy for going back over time.
DeleteI have had many throwing friends have quilts made similar to what you are talking about.
P.S. If you are interested in doing something like that, the person that did mine was looking for more to do earlier this fall to keep her busy this winter.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed! I will keep that in mind as I do another sort.
DeleteI told my sons the shadow boxes need to go to the VFW so the flags can be disposed of properly. Whatever they can't use can be tossed.
ReplyDeleteI may have them take the pictures to the VFW, too. Not sure how many of them are interested in aircraft photos, but if not, the boys can toss those, too.
Good luck, TB.
You all be safe and God bless.
Linda, there is a thing I recently learned of which is called "Swedish Death Cleaning". The idea is that you clean out your stuff now as if you are already dead, thus making it easier for your heirs. Although I am not quite to that point yet, it has certainly given me a great deal of to think of about other things that I am acquiring - to be honest, it seems to be less and less every year. Which is fine. Most of what I "need" is day to day living items and a few "luxuries" that are only so to myself. Anything my family gives me is up there on the "likely to retain" list; almost everything else goes by the wayside.
Delete