Some Things You Just Keep
So I'm moving again... for the 2nd time in 10 months. While being in Brussels is something I've waited for and wanted for a while now, I can't say I'm looking forward to all the packing and unpacking. Something about shipping your stuff a thousand miles across the seas always gives me the urge to clean out my closet, my desk, my drawers... weeding out all the old stuff I don't need.Sunday -- There I was, spending the day going through old documents, old magazines, old clothes... Armed with Tim Gunn's advice, I begin to sort my stuff into the donate, throw and keep piles. But after the first 15 minutes, I had everything in the keeper pile! Even the really cheesy faded blue moon and stars bed sheet and pillow case set from SM that I have in common with at least 2 consumer homes I've visited.
I just can't bring myself to throw stuff away... I know I probably should. What is it that Eli Stone said? Life and the pursuit of Armani, accessories and ambition. Everyone else is showing off their new and improved car, their new and improved career, their new and improved selves. Trade-ins happen all the time -- the new Ipod, the new cellphone, heck, even the new wife. But I just can't keep up with all this improvement.
I know that probably makes me sound old and fuddy-duddy at a time when the world seems to like the flashier the better, the blingier the better, the younger the better. But some things you just keep. Some things you should keep. Like good friends. Old pictures. Fat husbands.
They're good for your soul, trusty, reliable and so much a part of you that to throw them away would be to lose a bit of yourself.
I probably get it from my parents. Mum who buys 2-ply tissue paper but separates the sheets to double the use, who in spite of the 1-ply-ness of the tissue paper we are already using, makes us tear only the part of tissue paper we need to blow our nose, who started the 1-square habit even before Sheryl Crow made it controversial. The same mum who washes aluminum foil after she's used it to use it again. I blame my bizaare collection of left-over Safeguard soap pieces stacked on top of each other on her, still hoping that one day they will merge and resurrect into a giant soap bar.
Pops is much the same -- we have a huge collection of empty boxes at home "just in case" we ever need them. He'd rather get food poisoning than throw away any food item even if it's expired. And he was never as happy as when he finally fit into a pair of old jeans he'd kept from years and years ago (from the high-waist era), when his hope that his tummy would get smaller came true.
Maybe growing up poor and having to work hard for what they have now, has made them value money. Or maybe they're just satisfied with what they already have. Whatever it is, I'm glad they taught me to value the same things they do. Because I realize that what they've passed on to me isn't a funny quirk. It's a way of life.
It used to drive me crazy when I was younger... I inherited my brothers' school books, kept wearing the same clothes till I got too tall for them, had my school uniforms mended and sewn back as new. I just wanted to be wasteful. My classmates only ever had new stuff. Throwing things away meant there would always be more.
But you get older, and with age came the realization that something new isn't always better than something old, that the familiar can be a million times warmer, cozier, homier than a stranger, and sometimes, well sometimes, there just isn't any 'more'.
So while I have what I have, I plan to fix it and mend it and use it till it's of better use to someone else. Some things you just keep... like comfy old pajamas, aging parents, bratty kids, balding husbands, annoying brothers (and sisters :o), nosy relatives, friends who live a thousand miles away... And a really cheesy faded blue moon and stars bed sheet and pillow case set from SM that reminds me what I have in common with at least 2 consumer homes I've visited.
posted by moan @ 3:51 AM
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