Stuff and Such

I've had stuff on my mind this weekend. Actual stuff. My plan this weekend was to get things back to some kind of order in my home. It's been in disarray since The Kid left. We stored her stuff in my largest closet. My stuff from that closet had to come out. I spent time this weekend moving piles of stuff from one spot to another. I still have too much stuff for my space. Clothes, dishes, books, scrapbooking supplies, and the ever-present-how-do-I-get-rid-of-it button collection.

Three things about stuff:

- No matter how much you accumulate, once you decide to purge, you get more stuff. Sometimes stuff just comes, showing up from nowhere, to take up space.

- Everyone has different stuff and each person's stuff has different emotional and monetary value.

- Some stuff is worth keeping. Today I helped a friend look through some of her Mom's stuff. And there, in a box of papers, was a birthday card my Mom had given her Mom. I now have a card that connected my two Moms - it would have been rather unusual circumstances for my Mom to give my surrogate Mom a card. I have a treasure now.

I think of my stuff and get frustrated. Yet there is little I truly want to get rid of - I just want somewhere to put it. I think of The Kid's stuff, the most important possessions of hers, living in my closet, waiting for her to come home. I think of Sister Two's stuff, destroyed by fire. I think of the family treaures some are lucky enough to have, which to others is just stuff, and feel some envy; we have few. I think of spotless, everything in its place houses, and wish I could have that fortitude, to not gather stuff. I think of people who have no stuff. I can and will purge soon, with trepidation that I might be getting rid of good stuff. I just need to engage someone whose stuff includes a pick up truck.