WHAT IS IMPORTANT ABOUT BELONGINGS?

PREFACE

The story of my life is that I have very few things that spark strong memory. I have lost so many "things" through my life from mostly moving. My collection of things gets smaller and smaller every time I move these days. 

STORY

At one time, I had ONLY what I was carrying on my back, in a backpack, with my sleeping bag lashed to it! (1980) I had left a box with my brother of just keepsakes and took off hitchhiking from the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Tampa, FL. I was 24. I don't even remember if I ever got that box back from Jimmy. I walked away from my first marriage, my first house, my first love (?). We had met when I was 13 and practically lived at the skating rink. He was a floor guard and 5 years older. When we got back together, after my mom died and I left my dad's house at 17, I was pregnant. I had turned 18, he lived with his mother, supporting her, and I moved in, much to her disapproval. I gave up that child for adoption and for a prospect of a better life. I worked to get a house built and to move out of his mother's house. I established my first household at 19, all on my own (with my new husband). A year and a half later, I left him, took half of everything and moved into a trailer. I wanted children, he never would.

I moved a few times before ending up in a mobile home. When things got real bad (no money, no heat @ Christmas), my boyfriend and I sold my pickup, bought "on the road" equipment from Army/Navy and headed to Tampa, Florida, to his sister's place. Only what we could carry on our backs and light weight was imperative. We didn't go for the sub-zero lining because it weighed too much! When we camped on the side of a mountain, in 29 degrees, in January, I re-thought that decision.

I collected many, many things after meeting and marrying George. His parents died within a year of moving and consolidating their North and South homes. We inherited two households! They were combined with the household I had set up in my deceased parents home, which had also absorbed my father's warehouse contents after he passed. I was living in a tri-level house, 4 BR, 2 1/2 baths, double garage with 4 complete households. There were aisles to get from the front door to the kitchen, MBR, and upstairs. The stuff was piled so high you couldn't see over it! It was like living in a furniture store! So I have lived in THAT, and I've had only what I could carry on my back. 

After many yard sales, and moving 4 times in 3 years, we settled in a townhouse (3BR/2.5B) and lived there for 19 years. Then I became a widow. My child grew up and moved out to start their own life. Then I moved into my sister's and had to whittle down my belongings (storing an eighth of what I had) and then moved a year later, into a 3BR/2B with a single garage. I got to empty my storage unit! I inherited the former resident's furniture, clothes, kitchen, and folded in my few belongings left. I made my home there for 5 years. Then I had to leave because the owner went into foreclosure, and again I had to consolidate, donate, and sell. I had two weeks to consolidate what I couldn't donate or sell. I once again used a storage unit for the antiques, important papers, my artwork, collectibles and as much as I could save and fit into that unit. It stayed there for 8 YEARS! I only visited it half a dozen times. I DIDN'T NEED THAT STUFF! I moved in with my sister again. I've lived in her converted garage since April 2014. I only emptied my storage unit in Feb 2022. I folded in what I could into my room, some in the shed, and some in the empty stall in the barn. 

CONCLUSION

I am trying to go through all of it, get rid of some by donating or trashing. It's very hard to let go of things you have lived with for 30 or 40 years. Things you have dusted and filled and emptied and moved so many times that they are integrated into your daily life. This last purge was VERY HARD for me because there was an traumatic incident that prevented me from getting all the things that I wanted to save. It was like a flood came and took them away. But belongings don't matter, as long as you have people (and cats) who love you.