I have written before about Stuff: the tangible items we fill our homes and lives with. You know what I mean: furniture, books, pencils, cookware, pictures on the wall, dishes—you name it, we all tend to have it (often in excess).
I try hard to eschew acquiring more Stuff at this point in my life. I noted in a long ago post that someone had challenged me on the sparseness of my life, suggesting I really wanted to live a more luxurious life. The inquisitor loved (and purchased) lots of Stuff: tons of clothes, expensive meals in fancy restaurants, and pricey tickets to special events, to name a few.
Nope, wasn't for me then. Not for me now. If anything, I am often looking for way to lighten the overload of my Stuff in this house. (It's a long journey.)
All the same, I am in the midst of a test of my willpower to stay true to my principles and NOT add more Stuff to my life and this household.
As I have mentioned in recent posts, my father has moved into a one-bedroom apartment in an assisted living facility. (Wonderful move.) As he settles in, he has made it very clear that he wants very few items from his home of 54 years—no photos, the kitchen bulletin board full of more photos, most of his clothes, all but one or two books, and so on. As a result, his apartment is crisp and has a few items that hold deep personal meaning for him, but the rest of the Stuff of his prior life is not in the way. [And, for the record, Dad calls these items "Stuff" too. To quote him yesterday and today when I asked him about specific items, he looked at me and said "I don't want that Stuff here."]
As a result, my brother Mike, his wife Kate, their grandson Arlo, Warren, and I are taking the lead on clearing Dad's house of Stuff. There is a lot. A. Lot. And this is where I find myself being lured...
Last evening Warren and I went out to the house to deliver some items (for Mike and Kate to work with today) and we looked at a few things while there. Look at the pans—oooh. Oh, look at the blue ceramic serving bowl—ahhh. There was a snug-looking hoodie sweatshirt (a zip jacket) in Dad's closet (more about that later).
My hand was on the bowl to "just" think about it. Warren and I pulled out several of the pans, which match some of ours. Then it hit us both: we have pans and plenty of them. As for the ceramic bowl, I have bowls that I like and those are more than enough. As for the hoodie sweatshirt, it came to me at about 5:00 a.m. (my usual waking time) that I have a hoodie zip-up sweatshirt, one that in fact Warren bought for me on a trip out west when I needed something warmer for a day at the Oregon coast. Whenever I slip it on, I think of that trip and smile. In short, we did not need any of these items, we lack the room for some of them (the pans, definitely), and we are more than okay with the Stuff we already own and use.
But I confess: the siren call of Stuff caught me in the end.
I was opening various drawers in the kitchen to see what all was there. Potholders galore (decorative and "cute" if you are into that kind of thing, some of them still in the wrapper they came in, but not very functional for heavy-duty cooking and baking) in one. An outdated can of baking powder in another. You get the idea.
And then in one drawer...
A manual can opener. Not just a manual can opener, but a bright red, lightweight one.
I didn't even hesitate, but picked it up and brought it home. I took it off the backing this morning, opened a can zip-zip-zip, and smiled.
Yes, it's one more item of Stuff. But it's red. And lightweight. And...I can live with adding it to our home.
4 comments:
Aww, I expect it will make you smile when you use it. That looks like a Big Lots tag. Do you have those stores there?
Laurie, yes, we have Big Lots. And my mother loved to shop at it--hence the packs and packs of unopened pencils that we have unearthed while clearing out the house! And yes, I smile when I use the can opener!!!!
Good for your Dad!! Even though I think we've reduced the things we own to a minimum , I think we could do better. Our weather has been so hot this summer that nothing in the barn or shed were touched. But now that it's wonderfully cool I have a good load to go to the Good Will. Some thing I still hesitate over like the red Old pal fishing box. But I haven't used it in years so I ask myself why keep it on a shelf in the shed. So it's going with the next load.
Chris, I get it...it's hard. Not so much my dad's stuff; I have siblings who can share the purely sentimental items. But looking around at all the STUFF in my house, even as someone who has tried to get rid of things...yeah.
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