Letting go

About two months ago your mother and I were in the midst of one of the worst fires ever seen in San Diego up until this date. It may become a footnote in the future, but at the time it ranked so high on the disaster scale that everything on local television shut down except for fire coverage.  We had no idea whether or not we needed to evacuate, or even if we'd lose our home.

Your mom and I packed up everything "important" just in case the fires were to consume our house, and as we were going through our stuff, besides the usual important documents and mementos, we realized that... there's very little that's absolutely essential for us to keep.  Which meant that all of the many many objects and trinkets that we've collected over the years weren't so necessary for us to keep after all once we reviewed it.

This is going to contrast another post that I have coming up (Of Pictures and Video), but the realization reminded me of something my father, your Opa, told me many times.  My mother, your Oma, is the type of person who attaches sentiment and meaning to "things", and holds onto them.  Opa, on the other hand, wants to simplify his life by getting rid of what he calls "junk".

I inherited both traits, but this post refers to Opa's way of thinking.  I have collected and amassed so much in my 32 years so far of living, and it's mostly my stuff that makes the house so full.  Your mother accounts for the Master Bedroom closet sure, but her items are more the decor of the house.  Her stuff hangs on walls and makes the house look pretty, but my stuff tends to crowd up the closets and bookshelves.

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this, but it feels right to share.

There are times that I look around at the things that I have and feel that I want to share them with you, my children, when you become old enough to enjoy them.  Like my Transformers action figures.  Back in 1984 when Transformers were first released, they were "simple" to transform.  They took more work then their competitor (known as Gobots... you can look it up if you really want) but they were the type of toy that a young 10-year old could figure out.  Nowadays in 2007, being able to "pose" your Transformers has become important for some reason.  The metal has been replaced with plastic, and usability has been sacrificed in order to make the robot modes more flexible.  Transforming the toy, which is arguably the funnest part, can take up to an hour for the "cooler" Transformers.  For that reason I was looking through my old toys this weekend, ready to sell them on ebay, and had to stop myself so that I could save them for you.  Even if you end up being all girls.

I keep in mind though that of all the things that I've amassed, that I'm just one person.  There will be potentially up to 5 of us including your mother living in our house one day, and if I could build up this much stuff... so could all of you.  And my stuff's already so much.

So I really want to make it a point to hold onto only the really really important stuff.  Don't fall into the trap of consumerism and feel the need to "buy" things (unless they're returnable... see my future post The Thrill of Shopping for that one).  One more thing, too.  If you ever hold onto something for the sake of "one day I might need it, but I don't need it now", think about this: Does it cost more (in money) for you to buy it again when you do need it so many years from now, or does it cost more (in space) to hold onto it for that many years?  Let the answer be your guide to keeping or dumping.

To think that I was going to talk about the fires here... but really, there shouldn't need to be a fire for you to think about the things that are really important in life: your health and your loved ones.