My wife and I had a friend who did not store things for very long. I believe she got rid of it if she hadn’t used it in over a year. I always thought that was silly. What if she needed it in the future? Her answer was, “I’ll get another one.” I was sure that was wasteful, but I’m not so sure anymore.
I have drug around things for years. My wife and I had so much packed away “just incase” we barely had any room for what we needed. Our garage in Canby had a long counter and overhead shelving that at one time may have held tools, paint, repair equipment and we had the thing nearly stuffed with craft supplies. Admittedly we used a lot of it, but we collected items we had no idea how to use but kept “just in case.”
I have been here three years and every box that was closed at arrival is still closed with the exception of one. A buddy came to visit and we went through an old box of Portrait Player memorabilia. Out of that came the desire to post the photos I had on my Facebook account. Admittedly I was glad I still had that stiff. I always thought they belonged in the college library, but I have never checked that out. Don’t know if there is any interest, but Gary is interested. Since nearly everything is paper it is heavy. I do need to see what it would cost to ship that all to Canada.
Some are old family albums. I will keep those. Some are files from throughout my church and college ministry. While searching through the boxes I ran across an album of encouragement cards and notes. This sort of thing was big in the years I taught. I kept them all to read on the days I felt beat down. Since I am not facing a group that may love or hate me on a regular basis I no longer feel the need for that kind of pick me up. I admit it was fun seeing whom I got cards from. Some were a surprise. In each case I remembered the person and thought fondly of them. Some were just plain funny. I liked those a lot. Maybe I have always been this way, but at this stage of life I prefer to see the humor in life. I admit I do laugh easily.
There was a period when I collected a great deal of books regarding drama. I even worked with children’s theater for a while so gathered a number of helpful books. I never considered myself to be very good with kids so I needed all the help I could get. I don’t need those any longer. I will see what I can donate to the community library.
Speaking of libraries, we have a nice one here and I have books I know I will never read more than once. When I retired I sold or gave away about 2500 books related to my field of study. In 1991 I had a sabbatical and for the first time in my life began to read fiction. I was so busy trying to stay up in my field of study that I read nothing else. But a friend got me started with a Larry McMurtry book about Calamity Jane and some of the Wild West’s aging legends Buffalo Girls was a western and I was surprised that I enjoyed the book. I was sure it would not hold my interest. But it drew me into a growing love for fiction.
In the last few years, fiction has been balanced out by a love of history. There are so many excellent historical writers weaving history into a well-told tale. The biggest problem is that I still feel compelled to buy rather than borrow. I live only two blocks from the library and could easily borrow what I want. Instead, I prowl thrift stores, garage sales, and second-hand books to find my little treasures. It doesn’t make sense. I have no place to keep them. I have no idea when I will learn. All that to say, I need to get rid of many of my books! At one time I was down to about 100+ and now I have nearly 300. Where d I get the money? I’m always trying to figure out how to stretch my dollars a little further. This would be an excellent place to begin. But I don’t want to.
4 comments:
How about going to online books? Getting a Kindle or some such? A lot of the old classics you can get for free. It would also make a great gift (the kindle itself or gift card purchases) for those who don't know what else to give you as a gift!
Encouragement cards. Ha. I have 2 from way back when....one from Mrs Rose, another from Paul Young! :)
I have a growing interest in the way people use space, and love to watch shows like "Hoarders" etc. I always have wondered why people value junk more than they value clean surfaces and freedom to move around their personal spaces.
Pictures is also an interesting subject. My kids both take thousands of pictures each year and spend time editing and colour correcting and whatnot but neither of them have ever printed them. They view them digitally only, and both enjoy that - strange new world! My daughter also takes pictures of sermon notes and letters and stuff and stores them on a folder on her computer - takes up no room at all and is always accessible.
Interesting post - thanks!
-Heidi F
DEAR CARTON CHARACTER: Have you read Paul Young's book "The Shack"? It's a best seller and he is working on a follow up book at an editors request. Ne never wrote the first one for publication so writing a second is a major challenge. If you haven't read it, do so. You may be impressed.
DEAR ANONYMOUS: The closest I've got to storing photos on a computer is work I did in Ancestry.com and when I put all my Portrait Players on my Facebook page. That is more work than I am used to doing.
Post a Comment