Stuff

What kind of stuff do you have? In the past few weeks I've been cleaning out my father's stuff. He is now in one of those "Assisted Living" places and he does not need all his "stuff." (I sometimes think "Assisted Living" places are the purgatory of life...not the dreaded end that we call "nursing homes" but also not the home living that we try to make them look like.) Going through his stuff and deciding what to do with it was both hard and sad.

I found some of my "stuff" along with his...you know, old pictures that remind you that at one time you had more hair and less body. There were old, new things that I had given him that he never opened. There were things that were probably special to him but not to anyone else. There were "gadgets" that I'm not sure what they were.

A wisdom teacher once said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and dust corrupt and thieves break in and steal..." Well, I started to leave the door open hoping that some thieves could simply come in and take...they did not even have to steal it. What to do with all the stuff...

The footnote to the saying above could add, "or that Goodwill will get someday." What are we collecting all the stuff for anyway? So I started thinking of ways to get rid of some of my stuff before my kids had to go through it to figure out what the heck to do with it.

I also pondered just what stuff was worth keeping and what stuff was, you know, important. I found a yellowing set of papers that contained the words I said at my grandmother's funeral. I came upon a picture of my mother when she was 18. Her half-smile and rouge covered cheeks looked strangely like our youngest daughter...somewhere in there.

And then there were all the things that ended up in bags...some for friends and family...some for the kind folks at Goodwill...and some for the truck out back that would journey to the graveyard where we offer last rights for our "stuff."

I need to start getting rid of some of "it"...not getting too much more of "it"...and trying to be more careful about just what is worth "it."

Bless you....and some of your stuff (not all of it)
jody