Friday - August 28, 2009

Moving Means Letting Go

I can not believe the crap we have acquired over the years.

7 or 8 years ago we tried to be friends with a guy my wife used to work with. He was into that Magic: The Gathering card game. We joined that circle of folks for a while, and got together to play Magic every other weekend. It didn’t last. Let’s face it, it’s a kids game. But we amassed over 100 pounds of Magic cards. Easily 8000 of them. And eventually we realized it was a cardboard crack addiction. So they went into the closet. The dust on them is thick. That’s a lot of money we’ve put into it. But we never use them.

I’m finding box after box of cassette tapes. My wife had a chintzy plastic Aiwa portable home stereo when I met her. It’s still in the closet. It’s the only thing in the house that plays those tapes. They won’t even work in my 12 year old car.

I have dozens and dozens of SVHS video tapes. SVHS was the total shizz: it was a VCR that recorded in DVD quality. And that thing is still hooked into my stereo. And it wasn’t cheap, not even close. But we haven’t used it in years! Seriously, in years!

I own 6 bowling balls. I might use 4 of them. 2 have to go.

We have several sets of kitchen knifes people have given us. We built our own collection of top quality knives.

I have lawn furniture, but no lawn. Beach furniture, and we haven’t been near the ocean in 3 years.

And so on. We need to thin out our lives. Intensely. I mean it. Not just a bit. By half. Or more! 1 thing in 4 we keep. The rest goes. It has to. We are drowning in stuff. And I have to move it all.

I’ve been doing this moving shit for a solid week now. And I feel like I’ve made no progress at all. That’s not true, but everything I get to the back of a closet, the dark corner of a cabinet, etc., I find more stuff we bought. Quality stuff, not cheap. And used it for a while, then lost interest.

I’ve got a plastic .50 caliber ammo can filled with expensive cigars. I go in there and add water to the humidor two or three times a year. I haven’t had a cigar in 8 years. I hear they age well though.

Once upon a time we were fly fishermen. I’ve got the waders, a dozen hi-tech little aluminum boxes with fancy flies in them, all the gear. And a handmade, custom designed bamboo fly rod, made by a friend who was also into it at the time. It’s a big rod, made for bass or pike, not for graceful little trout. And it works great, and is a work of art. I’ve never caught a fish with it, and I haven’t used it in 6 years.

Who wants a ski machine? We picked up one of those at a garage sale once upon a time, and spent one winter swishing back and forth in the living room, getting exercise. It’s a great workout if you’re already in shape. If you have a beer gut, the pad thing tends to chafe you underneath the rollover.

Hey look, his ‘n her file cabinets! 9 years ago we were going to get organized, and keep meticulous records of everything. Never happened.

My mother in law used to do “crafts”. She painted stuff. Mostly birdhouses. Spent thousands of dollars on it, then one day just put it down and walked away. We have 8 of them, and they’re lovely little bits of primitive art. And nowhere to put them.

So I’m going to have to make some hard decisions. But nobody is touching my guns or my tools. I’ll happily throw out the two somewhat broken inflate-a-beds.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/28/2009 at 03:44 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
• Comments (9) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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