Just Stuff

I was watching a video of a worker who has been helping homeowners who had their homes destroyed by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. He choked up when he was talking about the impact on the families that have lost everything. The owners of the house where he was are in their eighties and he has not met them, but he could not help thinking of his grandparents as he saw items like a China cabinet that was not store-bought. It may have been in the family for 70 or 80 years and may have been made by a grandfather or great-grandfather, passed down through the years. The idea that it and the memories could be lost and forgotten made him want to take it home and restore it for the family.

Most of us senior citizens have spent much of our lives buying things we needed and a lot of things we just wanted. Many of those items we have gotten rid of through the years and do not give them much thought these days. However, we still have a lot of items that have memories associated with them that make us reluctant to get rid of them. I have so many of them that they stay in the same location and only get moved for dusting.

When we lose a spouse, some find it difficult to look at an item without becoming emotional, so they want to get rid of the item. When I look at a chair that was bought as part of a dining room set we bought in 1970, I do not see it as an old chair. I have two other sets that are newer and better; however, I remember the feelings Eva and I had as we went shopping for them. We had added a new dining room to our house and that was the first milestone that we had planned before we started building our first home.

I have a large collection of bells we collected as we traveled to most of the forty-eight states over the years for our family vacations. Eva had a collection of Precious Moments and hummingbird figurines that she enjoyed. I have woodworking tools that I have accumulated over the years and other tools that include the first set I bought as a teenager to work on cars.

I have that Montgomery Ward console radio cabinet that I made into something better for my Mom back in the 1970s. I have a cover for a tissue box that Mr. Roy made for my Mom sometime after my Dad passed away. The next-door neighbor who taught me woodworking skills and let me work in his shop on projects. He was a great neighbor who checked on Mom regularly. I have a collection of books, most of them Eva’s because she loved to read.

When I am gone, most of my possessions will be divided among family members; however, I expect a lot will be “just stuff” to get rid of. They will become items with no memories attached and will have little value. Things will be tossed into boxes to go to Goodwill or out to the trash. Paintings will be hung on a new wall without a note telling which of us had to have that one. Those of us who were born in the 1940s and grew up with not much then reached a point where we could afford to buy quality furniture that would last and appreciate better-made furniture.

The purpose of this blog is to explain why I have not got rid of all that “just stuff” my family will have to spend time picking through. The memories associated with each of those items, bring back moments I shared with the love of my life, and that helps me get through my days. There is an old saying, “One man’s trash is another’s treasure.” I guess the reverse of that is, “One man’s memories are another’s Just Stuff”.