Stuff as the sum of a person

[storytimewithjoe]

The house is burning down, and you only have time to run in to grab three things. What would they be? For some people, they immediately think about the most valuable thing in the house. For others, some treasured heirloom. Yet others will choose some fairly recent (but important) item of nostalgia. Perhaps important papers? Family photo album? The pets? Grammy’s recipes?

This past weekend, my hubby and I jumped into the truck to go and help a friend pack up her house before a move. In addition to running a business and packing up her house, our friend also has the additional burden of being caretaker to her elderly grandmother who, sadly, is no longer all completely there. While grandma’s memory is sketchy at best, mounds and mounds of decades of hoarding can be seen everywhere. And sadly, there is no rhyme or reason to it. Tempting as it may be to just madly chuck everything, important or valuable or critical items are found scattered in between layers of utter crap. And sadly, so many items have lost their context, as the context as faded along with grandma’s memory.

I find it so sad to comb through someone else’s items, utterly disconnected to them. To me, it is a vintage garden party blouse. But lost in her memory, that blouse may be tied to a wonderful event or wedding or anniversary. To me, it is a silly piece of costume jewelry. But who knows what wonderful context has been sadly lost. Stuff without context so often becomes nothing more than clutter. One man’s treasure, sadly, becomes another man’s trash.

What did I learn from this? Declutter. Document items. Organize them. Treat treasured items with the respect they deserve. Pass them on. Give things to people who will continue to treasure them. Do this while there is still time.

Tomorrow may not be very forgiving.

Comments

[esprix.livejournal.com]

Cats, man bag, computer. Everything else is just stuff (and, going through a divorce, I'm learning that more and more.)

[usqueba.livejournal.com]

The cat and I don't know what else. Maybe my laptop.

I learned about the decluttering thing (though I still need practice) when my parents sold the Homestead (my childhood home). Almost 50 years of STUFF. Yikes.

[dieppe.livejournal.com]

Photographs are good things... magazines of photographs not! Yeah, my aunt passed away a decade or so ago, and it was sad going through her stuff trying to decide what was a memory and was was just a magazine. As it is I think my other aunt just left a lot of stuff in the house too.

Best of luck!

[slamson.livejournal.com]

Yep, dogs, computer, evac box (a box with all my relevant documentation that is not already in the safe deposit box). Two things help; one, living in hurricane country which means I need to know what I'm taking and keep it handy and, two, moving frequently which insures no clutter. I just moved into a purchased house, so I'll have to watch my acquisitions carefully.

[balutakat.livejournal.com]

This is actually what I currently do for a living - I go in and help. I only work by reference, since it's so sensitive. Your friend is lucky to have you, lots of people do not have the time or the strength to do the Big Sort and Dispatch.

I wish more people would take the opportunity to release things back into the river when they are happy, instead of it always being a stressful time. I respect people who stash away memories, but how sad to give away the items under duress or have them dispersed meaninglessly, or have them fought over or sold because a person thought they were too young to write a will.