Where have I been?
That is a question some of my sweet friends have asked. The answer is I have been helping my dad move from his ranch to a garden home in Amarillo. With that comes cleaning out almost 40 years of stuff. My parents never threw anything away. From the garage to the basement and every closet in between was full of stuff. We literally took over 3900 lbs of trash to the dump, and another load that big to the Salvation Army. The grandchildren came and got what they wanted, and us kids got what we wanted, and Dad still had plenty to fill his new home. Wow!
It was hard for Dad to let things go in the trash, but some stuff had to be thrown away. We had plenty of discussions on what needed to be thrown away, and many debates on how his generation hoards stuff and my generation is frivolous. He grew up doing with out, and I never had to do without. Different perspectives.
It can be emotional moving like that. It affects everyone differently. Definitely, a chapter of all my family's lives was coming to an end.
Dad would get weepy over the littlest things. He wanted to move. It was his idea, but still hard.
One of my brothers got real emotional over the last round-up. We had always worked cattle together. Why, I remember having to come home from college and earn my keep. Those days are over now.
Through all of this, all I knew to do was plow through it all. No time to dwell on this or that, I had a task to complete, and I would just get it done. I really didn't feel anything. I didn't have time to. We had a deadline.
I got plenty of things from the house. Everyday I worked out there, I would come home with something...something I really didn't need. But how can you let the relish tray go that Mom used for every Christmas and Thanksgiving you can remember.
The shop still has to be cleaned out, but it will be much easier. Not a lot of emotional attachement to tools, heavy metal and more junk.
Reflecting back on the home I had for most of my childhood, I know it seems odd, but what I miss most is the phone number. Call me crazy, but that phone number has seen me through a lot in my life. Growing up, it was the link to hours of chats with my friends. When I left home, it was that number that kept me in touch with my roots. I called that number with words of fear over new challenges, cries of heartache, announcements of victories, and joyous occasions. And it never failed, when I dialed those numbers my mom would pick up and say, "Whatcha know good." And with that, I had someone to listen on the other end.
So I say goodbye to my childhood home and 806-267-2550.
That is the hardest thing to do. We cleaned out two houses and a shop so quickly. We didn't have time to process anything. If I had to do it over, I would have kept a lot more stuff even if I had to store it until I could integrate it into my life. I find myself at the store buying new glasses and thinking, wish I had my grandma's....My advice is to keep it now. You can always throw it away later, but you can never get those treasures back!
ReplyDelete