The move itself helped us filter our junk. There are always boxes of stuff that you save and no longer use. Also boxes of duplicates or backups of stuff you have never needed. Then when you empty the drawers and empty the closet shelves you realize that life can get cluttered with so much more "stuff" than any human ever needs.
People who are always on the move, perhaps news photographers or people who work from ships such as international doctors, have just basic essentials and may store just a bit of memory "stuff" in a closet or rental unit somewhere. Their life activity and memories are their "junk".
This line of thinking all started with my search for my wedding dress (really a muumuu) and I have not been able to find it...at all. Did I get rid of that thinking I would never be able to get into it? Did I actually give it away?? I have no clue because I can still see it in the box with the tissue.
I did find the shoe box below with the label: SEEDS GLASS JUNK
When I took off the lid I saw this below:
In the jar at the very top of the box is a collection of sea glass. That brown bone-like structure in the upper middle is a piece of really interesting wood that has been worn down. It looks like a fish skeleton, doesn't it? Bits of seeds and feathers and all. And, I will not throw out this box. I collect stuff like this all the time! I will leave it to my kids to dump into the bin after I leave this planet. So I guess I clearly lack discerning nature for saving stuff since I cannot find my wedding dress!
I'll bet one day it will turn up, maybe in a box that is mislabeled maybe? :-)
ReplyDeleteWedding dresses seem to have a mind of their own. A day will be when your dress returns.
ReplyDeleteI long ago got rid of my wedding dress but I have collection similar to the contents of your box -- mostly displayed on all the window sills of my house or scattered on bookshelves amongst the books. I consider these little altars.
ReplyDeleteI need to do a good de-clutter. I just have to kick myself into gear...get motivated! That's the most difficult part! :)
ReplyDeleteWe didn’t leave much behind when we did our big move, but there are still some things that Sue wishes she had.
ReplyDeleteI got rid of my dress year ago like my mother had discarded hers. Wish I could get rid of other things as easily.
ReplyDeleteWhen we got this second home, it was for vacationing and renting to for awhile rentals to vacationers. We furnished it simply. When we came back a couple of years ago, we hadn't planned it to be permanent, but our son moved into the farm with his family-- with our agreement, as he takes care of the livestock. What seemed temporary has become more or less permanent, but we left a lot of 'stuff' at the farm house. Now what! Some got boxed but some is still there. We don't have room in this house for much more than we have and that includes our thousands of books. We haven't truly downsized yet but it's on my list for... uh someday.
ReplyDeleteI need to do the clearing out. The wedding dress can go, now, i realize i won't fit it in again.
ReplyDeleteI made my wedding dress the first time I got married. divorced the guy 3 and a half years later, the dress abandoned at my parent's house. years later my sister and her husband had a costume halloween party and my mother showed up wearing my dress with a pillow tied around her middle under it. she came as a pregnant bride. as for the contents of the bax, I have stuff like that all around here, some of it in a chinese herb cabinet with 20 drawers.
ReplyDeleteI have been hunting high and low for items of clothing which I wanted to give away. And then the questions start: did I give them away already?, did I put them into the drawers under beds? Has someone taken them without telling me?
ReplyDeleteRidiculous, I know, but those memory drawers in my brain are also stuffed full of junk and it takes ages to rummage about in them and come across answers to my questions.
I have nature junk too, skeletons of tiny creatures. small stones, pieces of hollowed out bits of wood, ammonites, fossils, etc. Far too precious to throw away.
I downsized when I moved nearly 3 years ago and often go looking for something I'm sure I kept. I don't get too annoyed if I can't find those things. What really sets me off is not being able to find something I used just in the last week or two. Right now I'm turning the house upside down looking for a shower curtain I took down, washed, dried and then ... who knows? As for my wedding dress I know I gave it to someone but can't recall who. I'm starting to accept these memory losses more gracefully now that they happen more regularly.
ReplyDeleteYou sound so much like me. I go to look for something and can't find it and assume I threw it away in one of my 'Get rid of junk" moments.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things we had to donate, sell or toss before we moved to Hawaii from Illinois. I sometimes look for things that I eventually see was sold. I took photos. My wedding dress was donated or tossed along with many other treasures.
ReplyDelete