I have always been reluctant (a euphemism for unwilling) to throw away old things. I'm not a hoarder, I do force myself to ditch most junk. But I have a lot of "stuff" from my ancient past taking up space on bookshelves and in closets. Not junk, STUFF.
I have begun to imagine my daughter and son-in-law cleaning out our house, getting it ready to sell, after we pass. From where I'm sitting I can see a bookshelf with photos of all the cats we have had, a battered copy of The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, Mistress Masham's Repose, and all my high school yearbooks. I see my 1950's St. Joseph Missal sitting between two of my mother's old bibles. I'm not a practicing Catholic, you know what I mean? It's nostalgia. I also have more photo albums than I care to admit. Oh gee, there's a Fuzzy Wuzzy kitty bank our grandchildren gave us sitting on the third shelf down. I wonder if I still have that pink piggy bank that granddaughter E painted for me 18 years ago?
This is just one bookshelf, mind you. Yesterday I was texting with friends about Captain Kangaroo, and I asked them if they remembered a book he read on his show, Millions of Cats. They didn't. I had a copy and ran to get it so I could show them the great cover art. Then I remembered I passed that book on to a great niece just last year. I was annoyed with myself, until I realized nobody really wanted to see the cover art. And if they did, I could google the book title to get the cover art.
I really have to start thinking about old things in a different way. And I need to let my daughter know I'm fine with her throwing away all my stuff when I'm gone. I am just sorry I couldn't seem to do it myself.
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| Yep, the third book down is a reissue of the 1950's era Baltimore Catechism |
There's going to be a lot of garbage as we baby boomers die off. I try to winnow every six months or so but still there will be crap my daughter doesn't want. Sigh. It was the same with my mum, things she thought were valuable, but they were only valuable to her.
ReplyDeleteAs my mother-in-law got older she began to make gifts to all of us. Most of the gifts were items we had given her and meant so much to us because of that. Please consider leaving the Bibles in your will.
ReplyDeleteGood luck but DO make a start. One item a time. For your grandchildren's sake. We took pictures of stuff and showed it around family for any reaction before we got rid of a lot, but stuill more to go. In fact, we sold a fair bit of it on ebay and used the proceeds to get more stuff - no, I'm joking. We donated the money. Felt really good.
ReplyDeleteMillions of Cats!! Someone who lives at my condo complex must have been letting go of old books because I picked that up off the free-book shelf and read it not that long ago. I have old things that I will keep and other old things that I have been able to let go of. Each year around this time, I try to look through my belongings and see if there is anything else I am willing to give away or sell. I'm always surprised to see that I'm willing to let go of old things I thought I would never let go of.
ReplyDeleteI hope I outlive my quirky cat! Can't imagine letting go of Harpo!
I also want to outlive our cat, Buddy.
DeleteI've downsized three times. Easier every time. But recently a grandson asked the history of a framed memento. I told him, and thought to myself, maybe there's hope for what I curated.
ReplyDeleteWe live in hope!
DeleteI live with a woman who cannot throw anything out. Worse, we live in her childhood home - she has never had to move and therefore, never culled through her "stuff". I grew up in a minimalist Scandinavian home. The conflict is never ending.
ReplyDeleteMy mother did her children the greatest service by clearing out all non-essentials long before she passed. I fear the day when I, or our children, have to deal with the mass (only meaningful to my partner's) nostalgia.
Fun fact - I grew up where Bob Keeshan (Capt. Kangaroo) lived and attended several of his daughter's parties in his home. Such a nice man.
Oh, that is a fun fact.
DeleteOh, I have exactly the same sort of stuff as you. My Mom saved files of papers and things from when I was in grade school, high school and college and I still have all of that stuff. I saved a lot of my children's stuff and they each have a large box in the basement that I haven't passed on to them yet. I don't care if they have to clean it all out when I die. I did it for my folks. Tradition!
ReplyDeleteHa!
DeleteWe have very little surplus "stuff", as we hate any unnecessary clutter around the place. Our rule of thumb is that for everything we buy we throw something else away. It works very well. But we're very reluctant to throw away books we might reread some day, so we have around 1000 books.
ReplyDelete1000 books!!!
DeleteMy sister was a hoarder of sorts. Not the pathway house kind of hoarder but she collected over a dozen different kinds of things and there was not a closet, bookcase, shelf, wall space that didn't have something on it. She died suddenly November of 2023 and it wasn't until mid 2024 that her daughter visited for a week to clean and we cleaned out the house. It was brutal. If no one in the family wanted it (and not all that much was wanted) it either went in the trash or to the resale shop.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. I helped clean out my mother's house a while back. It was an unforgettable experience.
DeleteIt makes sense to hang onto items that you enjoy seeing or using for their sentimental value. So there will always be things your cleaner-outers won't have feelings for after your best-before date. There's no getting around it, is there? We can only do what we can.
ReplyDeleteJoin the club! Objects are emotionally meaningful, I suggest that you enjoy them all. If you've told the family that they can do what they want with it all after you've gone they should not feel burdened by the task. (At least that's the thought that I'm going with!)
ReplyDeleteEver think about old books that you don't have and which would enrich your life. Actually I'm thinking about a genre of books that has fallen out of the world's consciousness: thick, with yellow covers, that once lay at the centre of our lives and now look so twee when they appear in old movies. Yes, you've got it in one! Telephone directories! When did we suddenly decide we could get along without them? So comprehensive! So reassuring!! Such a comfort and so democratic - knowing that all our neighbours were included!!! "All?" you say. Definitely!!!! Who'd want to know anything about a family that didn't have a phone? Just day-dreaming; your futile old pal. The smartypants from over the ocean. Still acting contrarily.
ReplyDeleteWell I find your contrariness reassuring. Always did.
DeleteI have not thought of that book in years. Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats. Remarkable.
ReplyDelete