ball of confusion

I don’t know how it happened.

When I moved out of my parents’ house, everything fit in the back of my hatchback. Then, slowly, little by little, I acquired things. Okay. Not things. Let’s just be honest. I acquired junk. The last time I moved (and I would say “we”…but again, to be honest…all this junk is mine) it took the biggest moving van I’ve ever seen, my car, my husband’s truck, a friend’s truck and another friend’s minivan. Hmmm. How did this happen? I suppose it’s time to start sorting through the mess. I gotta say, most times I’m actually relieved when my son breaks something because then I don’t feel guilty throwing it away.

Someone once said:
“The only items in your house should be one of two things; functional or beautiful”
(Mies Van Der Rohe maybe? Some architect, I’m sure, because I recall hearing it from a professor while in architecture school)

God…I’ve got a LoOng way to go if I wanna follow that rule. I just hold onto things.

My dad has another great rule:
“Keep something for a year. If you don’t use it in that time, get rid of it”

I’ve been pretty good about following that one. But some things you just need more than a year to get around to. Like the pile of vintage fabric remnants from my Grandma’s house. I fear the moment when I’ll actually need something and I’ve thrown it out the day before. I also like to use things until they’re just dead, till they can’t run/stand/stay together no more. We still use the microwave oven I bought when I moved into the dorms at college. 15 years ago! (Jesus God…has it really been 15 years?!?) The other night the butterscotch sundae topping bubbled over and my husband said, “Let’s just buy a new microwave so we don’t have to clean this up.” And I’ll admit, it does take twice as long to pop a bag of popcorn. And I suppose it’s not right for things to come out frozen on one side and piping hot on the other. So I suppose it’s time. Why hold onto it?

Yes, it’s time for a clean out. The big pitch. Sift through the junk. Pile through the rubble. Of course when I drop off a carload of stuff at the Salvation Army I’m sure I won’t be able to resist going in and finding “treasures” to take the places of the ones I’ve just been relieved of.

And the band played on…