Posted in Organization 101
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I had a wake-up call two Saturdays ago. A friend phoned us to let us know that her elderly neighbor, bless his heart, had suddenly passed away. The bereaved man's church was helping the widow (who had flown to another state to be with her daughter) with the estate sale. Everything in the house was to go. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Then our friend added, “Come, they have plenty of books.” We were planning to have a leisurely Saturday morning, but the lure of books was too much. So we made our way there. The house was falling into pieces. And most of the books were dusty and musty. But what caught my eye was the amount of junk the couple had. There were also several kitchen-stuff still in their original boxes. There were pretty napkins (paper and cloth) that were never used. There were also lots of other trinkets and contraptions. We were there towards the end of the sale. When the clock struck noon, everything would go to some thrift store. The truck was coming just as we were leaving. We did get some good books, a nice basket and a couple of items for my husband's shop in the garage. But I was just consumed by sadness after I left the house. That it was dilapidated was one thing, but what struck me most was the junk and the fact that the couple didn't even open and enjoy some of their nice things while the husband was alive. I also suddenly had this “vision” of folks rifling through my junk, and all my pretty but unopened stuff, after I'm with the Lord. That picture in the deep recesses of my brain just rattled me hard. No way I'm going to continue “saving” nice things for some special time before I crack them open. If I don't have use for them, I'm going to bless someone by sharing them. No way too do I want my dear children to decide what to toss, what to give away, what to sell and what to keep when I go home with the Lord. Well, almost two weeks have passed, and I'm glad to say that some thrift shop will be very happy to get 8 bags of goodies from us. They are now sitting on the porch waiting to go. And I'm still bagging stuff daily. Yeah. I feel lighter and more liberated already. My daughter who is a born pack rat like her mommy is also getting better at parting with some of her “precious” things. More than keeping the house less cluttered, it is learning to let go of things that don't really matter. My house is 100 pounds lighter. 900 pounds more to go... |
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Posted by Anonymous
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