I was just waking up from a well-deserved nap.
The television was on in the background, and I woke up to a reality show called; “Hoarders.” It is a show I had never watched before. As I was not totally awake, I decided to watch the show and to give myself time to fully awake. I wasn’t sure how to process this show.
I found myself grossed out by some of the things that people saved, such as dead cats. There were boxes and boxes and bags and bags of stuff rising up to the ceiling and small footpaths to allow you to navigate thru the rooms full of stuff. Talk about high fire risk, and the people on the show also mentioned it did not smell like a lavender field!
Then family and friends got together, and they performed an incredible clean-out that took several days. There was a lot of emotion from the “Hoarder” as things went out the door, but in the end, it seemed okay; they were happy to have their house back.
I thought to myself, how could that happen? What is wrong with people?
Then a thought struck me right in the stomach; “Was I A Hoarder?” My daughter would say yes!
I went down into the basement, one side is finished, and the other side is not finished. I opened the door, and it somehow looked different to me. Lots of boxes and storage containers, and yes, garbage bags full of stuff. No, it cannot be. I could not be a hoarder! I committed to clean out the things in the unfinished portion of the basement tomorrow.
It’s interesting that tomorrow, becomes today and today becomes yesterday. So when tomorrow came, it was today and not tomorrow. Basically, tomorrow never comes.
A couple of weeks went by, and I forgot about cleaning out the stuff. I went to the basement to get ice cream out of the freezer, and I awakened my commitment to get rid of stuff!
The goal I came up with is that if I had not used the item in one year, it either goes to the Mission or it gets pitched. That should clean things up.
I found several boxes and bags of my daughters’ stuff. It had been here for years. I called her up and told her to come over and get the stuff. She came over (I bribed her with carry-out dinner.) She went through the stuff, fond memories all.
Then she said, “Dad, I don’t have room for this right now. Can you keep it, and I will make room for it and get it later? I said yes, after all, she is my only daughter!
That was about a year ago.
Well, I’m not a Big League “Hoarder” like on television, but I guess I’m a minor league one. Are you A “Hoarder?” A simple look around will answer that question.
I guess it’s time for a nap; I will decide what to do with this stuff later!
“Remember, every day is a gift! Some are just a little more fun to open than others. – © Joel M. Vernier 02/18/2021 Author of: “The Guinea Pig In The Freezer.” joelmvernier@aol.com
