Don't Throw That Away

Last night I watched a news report about a fire in Louisville. The report stated that the firemen were unable to enter the house to fight the fire because of a massive amount of "content". The owner was described as a hoarder. Evidently the owner had collected so much "stuff" that the firemen literally could not get in the doors. Unable to enter they just poured water on from the outside and tried to keep it from spreading to other homes.

I looked over at hubby and he met my eyes with a look of understanding. You see, we are a "keeper" married to a "keeper" and we are fast disappearing under a load of stuff we are keeping. We find it difficult, if not impossible, to throw away things that are perfectly good. We also can't refuse usable items, especially if they are free.

It all started soon after we married. My grandmother passed away leaving my sister and I to empty her home. We spent an afternoon sorting and dividing sixty years of living. Then we loaded it all up and took it home. It, frankly, never occurred to us to give any of it away. We were newly married and hadn't accumulated much so we just kept it. The oak drop leaf table, walnut chest made by my grandfather, Aladdin lamps, and lovingly monogrammed napkins are treasured keepsakes that I would never part with. However, we also still have the worn twin bed sheets (I don't own a twin bed), dented kitchenware, mismatched glasses, and odd decorative pieces. Since that time we have cleaned out three more houses with the same results.

It's not just furniture we save. During a recent remodeling, after the carpenters left for the day, we would carefully collect up all the "usable" scraps that had been left to be disposed of. Hubby would grab pieces of moldings, cuts of lumber, even nails and stash them in one of our outbuildings. The guys would laugh about all the trash we had saved but we just kept on stashing goodies away. Then came the day we discovered that the space left for the mantle in the sunroom was too small for a standard mantle. That meant we would have construct our own. Out came all the pieces of moldings, trim, and lumber that had been saved. Using nothing but what we had on hand we were able to build a lovely mantle that blends perfectly with the rest of the house.

Guess we had the last laugh! Now, I wonder where we can put another building to hold all the other "stuff" we're still collecting.