Thinning Out The Stuff

I wish I was speaking metaphorically, but I'm not. I'm actually going through closets, bookshelves and cabinets and getting rid of things. I'm facing a major relocation and, as is my custom, I'm going through my possessions BEFORE the packers come to make some decisions about what stays and what goes.

It's an interesting process. When we moved from Houston to Tulsa, I didn't own a single thing made from wool or down. I don't think I even owned a pair of gloves. My first winter in Oklahoma cured me of that, right quick. I soon became the proud owner of a great down parka and several pair of color matching gloves. One for every weight of coat...

This time we are heading for the desert for two years, then back to Houston. I'm going through my closets looking for wool clothing, down jackets and all that cold weather gear. There's no reason to hang onto any of it. Well, maybe if I was getting maudlin, I might consider all the good times I had and want to hang on to some memento of my cold weather wear. But mostly, I look at it and think, "there's someone around here who would appreciate a really good coat!"

I'm not really tied to my stuff. I have some little items that were gifted to me by my husband and children, and I could easily pitch them all into a box for GoodWill. I remember the memories of the gift, the gift itself is not a sentimental cache of that feeling. All the tchotchkes could go and I would still remember all the times my husband returned from a foreign country with a little present for me.

The hardest thing for me to part with is books. I have a lot of books. I know I need to keep only SOME of them. I need to thin out the majority of them, but it is so hard. A good book is like a good friend. It's priceless. You want to share it with everyone, while keeping it close to your heart.

I need to really eliminate a lot of the books that I've kept over the years. I need to pare it down to just the essentials. That means, I need to ask myself, "are you really going to read this book again?" with each spine in my hand. Hard to do with my favorite fiction, but pretty easy to do with all those business and leadership texts. The professional library is my husband's pride and joy. But he's a long way from home and this process is going along without him.

I'm thinning out the stuff. I wonder if he'll even miss it?

--Sandee Wagner