Stuff

We met my two brothers at my parents’ gravesites last Friday. Evergreen cemetery was decorated with small American flags on all the graves of veterans. On this Memorial Day, 2024, I salute all those who served in the armed forces.

As we left the cemetery and drove through the tiny town of North Carrollton, Mississippi, I saw the antique store and remarked to Cheryl: “That was the last store where I had taken my mother.” She was walking with a cane at that time, and as we walked through the store she would point at some things with her cane and tell me that she once had that same item in her house.

The only comment I remember her saying while visiting that antique store was “I can’t believe they’re selling all this old stuff.” She was not a packrat. After her passing my brothers and our spouses had little trouble cleaning out her house.

The only thing that she seemed to hoard was clothes. I guess she’s like a lot of us who keep some old clothes thinking, “I’m going to lose weight and those clothes will fit me later.” 

How I wish that my mother had not thrown away my baseball cards. I collected in the 50s and early 60s, and I had all the famous baseball stars’ cards that are so valuable today. And my mother threw them away! I came home from college for a visit and asked my mother where she had placed my baseball cards. She simply remarked that they were in the way, and she just threw them away. “It was just a shoebox full of old stuff,” she told me. I was just happy that I had kept my coin and stamp collections with me while in college or she would have thrown them away.

I like old things. I guess that being a collector of stamps and coins over the years proves that I am somewhat of a hoarder? Maybe.

When we began the preparations for moving from our farm to the city two years ago, I had a huge job cleaning out my barn. I had accumulated a lot of stuff, and as I started going through it, I realized that I had never used some of the things that I had collected. We were moving into a smaller house with little storage space, so as I began the cleaning out process, I would offer some things to our kids and grandkids. If they did not want it then I would either give it away or sell it.

After a lot of hard work, it felt really good to be relieved of all that stuff. I thought our kids would thank us for cleaning out so much junk, so they will not have to do that after our deaths. That’s not a burden that I wanted to leave with our kids.

My retirement clothes are much more casual than my former working attire, so I have been cleaning out my closet by either giving to grandchildren or to a local thrift shop. I admit that it has been hard to part with some of my stuff, but when I looked up synonyms for stuff, I felt guilty about having so many clothes and shoes. Synonyms for “stuff” are junk, mess, gear, material, and paraphernalia. I prefer the synonym “material” to the other choices because it makes me feel better.

My friend, Mitch Smith, penned a book called “JUNK” in 2011. One of the quotes I recall says, “We’re spending money we don’t have on stuff we don’t need to impress people we don’t even know or like!”

Years ago, a friend painted a small plaque for us that said, “Live simply so others may simply live.”

After composing these thoughts, I am convicted to empty that rented storage locker ASAP!