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| Our great garage sale, Calgary |
It’s official !
After 20 years of accumulating useful things (such as raccoon skin hats, didgeridoos, wooden fruit, emu eggs and “penis gourds”/true story, look it up)......we have started the MASSIVE undertaking of de-cluttering our home......after removing the considerable layers of dust...we make a big pile and go through it all... no item escaping scrutiny.... each being sorted into either the “Garage Sale Pile”, the “Throw Away Pile” or the “Give Away Pile”.
We have offered many of these prized possessions to friends and family with, curiously, very few takers.....so now I just show up at people’s houses, object in hand offered as a gift.....I won’t lie to you, there have been a few raised eyebrows and some nervous/ shaky thank yous ! It goes something like this: “ Hi there ! ....I found this angklung (Indonesian Instrument made of bamboo) in my living room and I thought this was the perfect thing for your home.....You are welcome my friend, you are welcome ....
Garage sales have been successful so far, but only because we have resigned ourlseves to let things go for ridiculous prices....it is amazing to me that what was a valuable work of art on display in our house for 10 years, when picked up and carried twenty feet to the garage suddenly gets demoted to "junk" in an "Everything for $2 !" cardboard box. Oh well....we just grin and bear it as we haggle over 25 cent with our neighbours....and as I feverishly try to tell the new owners all the stories that go with each treasure, and some kind souls actually hang around to listen, bless them!
Now there are a few MUST haves that I can not bear to be parted with which will either go to storage or come on board with us, one of them being my dear old friend, my classical guitar...which sounds like it has a wet blanket sitting on it when I play, but I love it anyways ! It has been with me everywhere and I will not leave it behind. I have images of me playing it under a palm tree somewhere, or when we are stranded for days in the doldrums (dead calms) of the Atlantic Oceans.
Today in his infinite wisdom, our captain came home with a replacement for my guitar, something that will take up “less room” as he says! I think he just likes it because its new and kind of a cool gadget, it needs NO amplification, I have to admit that it does look pretty gnarly.
This got me thinking about all the things we need to give up, or replace for reasons of storage space and practicality.
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| Make no mistake, the guitar is coming.... |
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| Our extensive DVD collection gets replaced by a single hard drive |
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| Our elliptical machine is replaced by a resistance band |
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| My night lamp becomes a head lamp |
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| This marvel of engineering becomes this, slightly damper, one |
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| Even the view from my bedroom window gets transformed ! |
And isn't modern technology amazing - most of it can now fit in a drawer:-)
ReplyDeleteAndrea
It was a piece that you posted a few months back that made me look at our own home the same way. We're not trying to fit our lives on board a sea worthy vessel, mind you. Just the same, I've vowed to give away/throw away at LEAST one item every day for the next 2 years until we begin life's next adventure.
ReplyDelete"If we were gone, would this item matter to Takayla?" is the question that gets asked. Surprisingly, most often the answer is "no." Our true gifts are our memories. So as you fill the $2.00 box then sell it for only a quarter, remember that the one thing you'll never have to sell and that will always fit on the boat is all the memories.
We envy you this life decision you've embraced. Whether on dry land or sailing, please keep posting. Perhaps you'll inspire
others to take up their sails, as it were, and embark upon a new life journey.
xoxoxo
I am glad you are going through the de-clutter stage with us....it's sometimes tedious, meticulous and exhausting work (going through ever item and thinking about its future role for our family....or not) but it is FUN and LIBERATING too and the more I do it , the easier it gets....now Mark says he worries about what else will be missing when he gets home from work....but in most cases he doesn't even notice !
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