Jason is the opposite, he is neither a cleaner nor a purger. This is a family trait on his side as well. I had brought up cleaning out the storage unit from time to time for years, and Jason always got irritable and had 200 reasons why he didn't have the time. I finally drew a hard line with Jason and told him either he could go through his stuff and clean it out, or the owners of the storage unit could inherit it all because I wasn't paying the bill anymore after this month.
Yesterday was the day that we entered the time capsule of Jason's life. We had some interesting finds. I opened the lid on a rubbermaid tub and sitting on top was Jason's Dukes of Hazzard coloring and activity book. We found his dad's cassette tape collection. We found two of Jason's original stuffed animals from when he was a little boy. We found the show halter from Jason's first cow that he showed. We found his two Rubik's cubes (apparently he wasn't very good at solving them). One of my favorite rubbermaid totes was due to the label; "Christmas decorations and decorations not necessarily associated with Christmas." I'm not joking, that was how he had labeled the tote. We found his skis, his toy tractor collection, his bag of marbles, every certificate or award he ever won from middle school on, and all kinds of stuff I've already forgotten. An entire 12' x 10' unit filled to the ceiling with Jason's treasures.
In a hot, sweaty and dusty way it was kind of fun to look through the tons (literally tons) of stuff Jason has been storing for the last twelve years.
Jason's Mickey Mouse and teddy bear
Jason's tractor collection and Rubik's cubes
Homer coming through the fog for breakfast
a meeting of the grey horse club; Gus, Cocomo, George and Asterik
Romeo (back left) tried to sneak into a grey horse club meeting; Silver, Cocomo, Gus
Baner and Taylor hanging out
Baby
a snack for the World's Cutest Fainting Goats
Norman and Traveller
Merlin and Alfie
Rubrico and Johnny
MyLight, Cinnamon and Dawn waiting for breakfast
Lily and Maisie grooming before breakfast
Convey and Trigger
Donneur and Lofty
Blu and B-Rad hanging out in the woods
Posts
8 comments:
Well, maybe some of those toys can become Carter's? And Jason will get to enjoy watching the next generation play with them?
I have some casual hoarders on my side - sentimental, really, not pathological. I've been encouraging my mom to clean house (it's timely, thanks to a move to smalller place). She and her husband are similar on the sentiment front, so they both have *stuff*. BUT, they did get rid of the storage space this year and are going through the bins. Some of the things she asks me if I want I'm literally wtf, why do you still have that?? Even if I'd have had kids, they wouldn't be interested in my 5th grade art, even if it was skilled for my age. Lol.
Admittedly, some things I do want, for sentiment and to keep in the family. It's tough, deciding what to let go and what to keep. We grow and change, but sometimes want to keep a part of ourselves that was something other than where we are now. I have a small Rubbermaid type box,about 1.5'x1'x1' that I call my life box. In it, I keep memories that are important to me as a person (bc sometimes I get lost) but it keeps it a manageable size. Truth - I haven't added to it for probably 10 years or more and I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I do know it's good that I don't feel the need to keep every bit of memorabilia. But I might have gone too far the other way. I think the only pics of me after 34-ish are from horse shows... I'm 38. Not sure how I feel about that. Anyway, sorry. All that to say, I get the need to purge and hate excess stuff stored that's never looked st/used, but struggle with wanting some record of my life too (for what purpose, I don't know).
Because something similar just happened to us, and I think it might apply to Jason....
http://www.walesoncraic.com/man-uses-piece-of-wood-he-put-in-garage-in-1982-because-it-might-come-in-handy-in-the-future-2/
Well,I have the " Black belt of Karate" in hoarding, my wedding gown from 1962, a jacket from 1987, a bracelet a friends grand-daughter crocheted for me, about 1980, Cole's Book Arcade book, from when I was 10 in 1950!!! A book of New Zealand Native trees, a birthday present from my Mum and Dad when I was 11, in 1951!!! and more. Hugh has visions of cleaning everything out one day, he has high hopes!!! Love the fog in your photos. Did you close the unit up again??
What I wouldn't give for those tractors.never throw them away if their metal. I Alway love the looking at your 🐴 horses and knowing they have a loving home 🏡 forever. So many are left to starve in the fields or kill because they run free out west. It just makes me 😭.
Granny fan
RB, Carter is already in possession of the tractors and was THRILLED to add to his collection.
Lytha, that article was too funny!!
Nancy J, the unit is no longer ours and is now available to store someone else's treasures!
There is reality television worthy hoarding on my mom's side of the family. And let's just say, my sister and are fond of our "collections" - but as I get older, stuff feels like more of a burden than anything else. I'm experimenting with front loading the efforts to prune possessions, by not acquiring them in the first place lol. (P.S. kudos to your marriage that it survived a storage unit ultimatum ;D)
that was a pretty lengthy description for something as simple as "decorations". Glad he finally found his marbles
So what percent did you keep vs throw out? And was Jason OK with throwing out what was thrown out? We are working our way through a storage room in our old house (lived there for 26 years). I thought it was funny that we each had an item that we had wanted our spouse to get rid of for decades to no avail. I guess time changes things because he let me throw out this huge old marble chess set, with a marble board that we have moved 3 times (no, he does not PLAY CHESS). I allowed him to throw out my hand dyed corn shucks (I used to make flowers with them. 37 years ago. I realized I no longer like corn shuck flowers, so why keep them?
Count your blessings being a cleaner and a purger. Smart.
Post a Comment