I have been somewhat absent from the blogworld for the last few weeks, because I have had to deal with stuff. Really, literally, I have had to deal with lots of STUFF! You see, although I moved last November to my house, I stored a lot of things on the property I managed for the last ten years with the permission of the owners. The problem with having stuff is that, at some point, you'll have to move said stuff. Finally, I got up the nerve to tackle moving a lifetime of accumulated stuff over to my house. I now have all my stuff in my back yard. The rest of the summer will be spent trying to sort, sell and store all this stuff, before the winter rains come in.
My backyard now looks like Sanford and Son’s Junk Yard. I honestly considered making a sign that read “Brown and Daughter’s Stuff”. Then rather than sorting all my stuff, just open my backyard to the public, and let them rummage through, until they found a treasure to buy. As they say, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”
The amazing thing about most of my stuff is that I never even purchased it. Almost everything in my house and backyard was either given to me, or found in vacant units that I managed. And even more remarkable is the fact that last September, I had a “Free Flea” where I gave away about twice as much as I now have in my back yard. Living in a poor neighborhood, over 100 people came and were blessed by this Free Flea. You would think that poor folks in America would not have much stuff but in fact, the poorer people are, the more stuff they seem to have. A big problem for poor people is when they have no money they feel poor, and stuff seems valuable, so almost instinctively they accumulated it.
I think I accumulated so much just because I knew that someone would need it someday. The stuff that I have the hardest time letting go of is memories. I have boxes of letters, pictures, and files that I should get rid of, but I hold on to them to keep my memories alive. For example, I have a letter my brother, Dan, wrote me on the back of a doggie bag in 1968, when I first went to college. I have my daughter, Shannon’s Christmas lists, when she could still write; and all the little pictures she drew, when she could still see. How can I get rid of those? My great plan is to scan all these personal treasures and put them on DVD’s. The big question is, will I live long enough to accomplish this great feat; and who will care once I’m gone? Well, it will certainly keep me occupied for a while. And so the downsize continues as does life. To everything there is a season. A time to accumulate and a time to let go. It is definitely my time to let go of a lot of things.
PS: I discovered a very interesting video on Stuff you might like. It was a real eye opener to me.
