Generally Speaking

I find it fascinating that people often have all the same stuff to get rid of.

Empty coffee carafes abound at garage sales, as do toaster ovens, ugly and now obsolete “stereo units” that used to house square monolithic televisions, hairless, dismembered Barbies (‘Amputee Barbie’ never caught on, did it?) strings of Christmas lights we all kept re-buying, board games no one played,  exercise bikes that people vowed to use as they watched TV (and obviously didn’t), boxed sets of dvds that were purchased so we could enjoy ‘Friends’ over and over and every Disney digitally remastered versions we were obliged to buy (first on VHS and then again on dvd).

What is going on?

I recently listened to a really excellent podcast which was discussing The Cloud as the ultimate storage tool.

As our needs expand and a monthly payment may be required (either for an actual storage unit or the cyber equivalent) we have to understand that what we are really doing is paying to forget. We never want to deal with the sheer bulk of what we euphemistically label “organizing.”  Eventually, we may be crushed – either by the responsibility or the cost of trying to keep/document every single thing.

(Editors’ Note: Is this a denial of death? Or, simply the inability to face up to all those same damned zoo photos we take, year after year … am I the only one with multiple sets of a blurry giraffe ….)

As someone who has had to clear out many houses on many occasions including my parents’ home in just a few days prior to yet another trans-Atlantic leap, I can testify how much I appreciated the fact that they kept very little and what I have, I truly cherish; but I could also never be that girl who throws away things ‘gradually’ or in the dark of night as a helpful friend suggested I do in order to tame The General’s … um … ephemera.

That said, The General recently gave me a paint box from his very early childhood – complete with intact squares of ‘Elephant Grey’ and ‘Nut Brown’ and I absolutely swooned for it.

This man has toys from each era of his life and I really do love that about him.

(I might feel differently if he was hoarding foodstuffs or squeeze-purses shaped like animals.)

It should also be noted that he managed to fill three dumpsters when he sold his house.
And, he is still puzzling WHAT was in there.

I rest my case.

To be fair, The General has made huge strides. Currently, he is organizing and sorting hundreds of family photographs and carefully making sure that they are preserved and documented properly in the acid-free envelopes someone close to him may have provided, in the tepid hope that the solid wall of boxes in the closet might be excavated, sometime soon.

I do get this since history is important and one day there may be a tiny grandchild/ genealogist who will be thrilled to discover such a cache.

Am I wrong?