Stuff

Stuff is overwhelming!

When we visited my cousin Steve in Seattle we reminisced about the trip that Steve, his brother Don, and his parents made to Chicago in - we think - 2002. As part of that reunion, we all went to Bridgeport to see the old family house as well as the Lutheran church across the street which was built, in part, by my great-grandfather. The pastor of the church gave us an extensive tour and we walked the streets and I took lots of pictures of everything. Steve bemoaned the fact that both his camera battery and his video-camera battery died in Bridgeport and he has no pictures, so I confidently said, "I have all those pictures. I'll send them to you."

Guess what I can't find!

The first problem was realizing that I got my digital camera in 2003, so I'd have to find actual prints! I've been through all our family albums from those years and, today, went through my mother's photo albums, her genealogy records, her file cabinet, and her various storage boxes. Nothing.

What I did find, however, are approximately 2,000,000 important papers mixed in with approximately 6,000,000 unimportant papers.....and that's just my mom's stuff. In addition to her file cabinets, bookshelves, and plastic storage boxes in our basement, there is still a storage unit filled with her furniture and household stuff to be dealt with. I can get physically ill just thinking about all that stuff.

Most days I can totally avoid all the stuff. After all, my mom's stuff is in the basement and off-site. Most of our stuff is also in the basement or in Ken's home office.....both of which I avoid as much as possible because of all the work and tool stuff in those locations.

All the above being said, I am actually pretty much a "thrower-outer" but I'm married to a "keeper" and am the daughter of another "keeper".

My mom periodically asks me where something is. Even though she doesn't need her stuff in her living situation, it is still important for her to know where her microwave or jewelry is. Her missing clothing has still not been found. She misses those particular - very ordinary - pieces of clothing. I'd say, "Oh good. Now I can get new clothes!"

I care about pictures and writing, but not so much about the other stuff. I hope I someday can leave David and Kevin with only a bunch of CD's and little more.....except for the five or six boxes filled with all the papers they wrote in elementary and high school!

Meanwhile, back to the search...............