Christmas And Duplicates
Sorry for the less than pithy title, but reality doesn’t always align with literary notions. Neither do I.
Today has been like many recent days; look around the house, see what can go back into storage, recycle, or refuse; drop by one of my storage units; empty a bit of it into my tiny Jeep or maybe a U-Haul van; get home; empty the vehicle; then get to open boxes that may have labels, or not. The mystery reminds me of Christmas presents; I might have a guess at what’s inside, but there are no guarantees.
Silverware! Bicycle shoes! A bedspread instead of towels to act as curtains until I buy some of them.
And duplicates. Triplicates . Quad- and quintuples. When I lived in larger houses there were multiple bathroom sets; plungers, brushes, cleaners, for every bath. How many places could I work from? Laptops are portable, but old ones can also settle down and reside in dedicated places: by the breakfast table (embarrassing), in the home office / spare bedroom (as is now normal), beside the easy chair in front of the equivalent of a television so I could tune into imdb.com or tune out of others’ content and tune in to creating my own. In a tiny house? Skip the duplicates. But how much stays in the house and how much goes to storage? It’s all good, or good enough.
Too much of a good thing, delivered in cardboard boxes, then likely repacked and saved for when I use up whatever supply fits in the house. Cleaning products, paper supply, pens and pencils, glasses. Evidently, I like having toothpicks around because I now have three sets sitting within a few feet of me.
As I was packing them, each received the same assessment. Yes, this is useful. Pack it and move it. Four notebooks? No need when they’re stacked on each other. It is also called wealth, considering
These things will sort themselves out. Within a few months, these memories will thin as they fade. But these reflections are insights that I find valuable. Why do I have what I have, and what am I going to do with the excess? Everything has a value, especially for folks who are familiar with composting. A person’s trash can be a worm’s feast, and a blessing to a garden.
But, it takes years for me to go through a dozen highlighters, and thanks to my time as a realtor (long story), I have lots of highlighters.
I’m not trying to force an issue with myself. If they don’t take much space, store them in the house. If they can last, store them in storage, within limits. If they can be donated, then take that to the top of the list. Their best use may be letting someone else use them.
For now, it’s coming up on midnight. I didn’t want to lose the thoughts, and I also don’t want to lose more sleep. Thought captured. Beer poured. Enough for today. Tomorrow, more packing, as if it will somehow end someday.