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Friday’s
rain was a welcome relief to both drought and heat since the front also brought
cooler temps too. So yesterday morning we faced cleaning the attic over the
garage. DH had been begging me to “release” some of the thing stored there.
Frankly, I reminded him that he had two buildings on the property full of “stuff”,
but he assured me all that was of vital importance!
So
we dragged down toys, high chairs, baby bed, boxes of fruit jars, old
suitcases, saved carpet pieces, wall paper rolls, paint buckets, movie
projectors and more. I know most was not worth money, but the items were loaded with
memories. I have diminished the stash periodically over the years, but now it
was time to relinquish it all. I shut my eyes and did it.
We
have buried four people in the last seven months. We have helped move a
household, helped another settle downsize a widow’s home, and all this after
closing a farm house only months ago and also watching people lose every stick
of their possessions in a tornado. How does one walk away from all these life
items? But I thought about how it felt to rummage in the ashes of my mom’s
burned house trying to figure out what had been what and where. I thought of my own
children going through an attic of things wondering WHY we never turned loose
of things.
I
weed the house routinely, but still closets are full. I know I must dig deeper
and release more. But yesterday we dug deep into the attic. Only half the fruit
jars and the baby bed remain. The trash men are going to gasp when they arrive
in the morning. I gave in on everything but the baby bed. Alas, it too will go
but when and how? No one wants it, but when I look at the bed I see my parents
as young marrieds with no money, but they sweat out pennies to buy this brand
new baby bed for a brand new baby. It was a small fortune for them as it was
large enough to use as a youth bed as well as for a new born. Three daughters
slept in that bed; two grandsons grew in that bed. But no one wants it now…it
is sad to me.
After
a long and dirty day yesterday, I got up to a beautiful morning. Dog and I
bundled in flannel robe and made sure we had a heavy cozy for the tea pot as it
was 55 chilly degrees on the deck. The air was also damp enough my book pages
began to go limp. But book and reader hung in there, not sparing a minute of
morning's beauty. Eventually breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and jam increased
the joy of morning. The skies are now a shade of sapphire dotted with an occasional
splat of cottony cloud and makes for a perfect reading day. Tomorrow we can
work again, but today it is book and tea time all day long outside!
7 comments:
Claudia--I, too, am digging deeper to release things...to downsize.
I hope the rest of your weekend is delightful. I LOVE this cooler weather.
Book and tea time sounds a perfect reward for a day which must have been physically and emotionally tiring. Very tiring.
Congratulations on the house weeding. I badly need to do it here too.
Everyone I know or have heard about is into/ needing to/ have done house/attic/shed weeding. I'm weeding books as I catalog them to put them back on shelves after moving for floor refinishing. I must have thought I'd live to be 140 to be able to read all these books! But I donate them to various libraries and take a tax deduction/donation. Your Sunday tea/book time sound idyllic. PL
"Weed the house." That is the first time I've seen that phrase, and it is apt. We also must "weed" and prepare to downsize. Our youngest child is 20 and a junior in college. One more year and she'll be 21, graduated, and ready to fly. Already we can see we don't need this big 'ol house any longer. Letting go will be bittersweet, but it's time. It's time. *sigh*
It's sad when things that have so many memories have been replaced by modern tat, the baby bed is probably beautiful functional and well made but woe betide anybody who doesn't have the most up to date modern baby items these days
You deserved every second of that rest! Sounded divine. Susan
This post struck a chord with me, Claudia. We are still storing--and trying to sort and distribute--boxes and bags and baskets of all kinds of special and not-so-special things that belonged to family members.
Some of it makes me feel sad that no one wants it; other things make me almost despair because I know it meant so much to someone at some time, but it HAS to go. We gave ourselves a deadline, and each month we are on two pick-up donation schedules, one for Goodwill, and one for the Women's center.
I especially like your special breakfast, and the skies that are now a perfect shade of blue with an occasional splat of cottony clouds. It gives me hope!
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