I just read an article entitled Stuff: How Much Do You Really Need? and it has gotten me thinking about my own possessions. Husband and I have been living as nomads for almost two years, the entirety of our married relationship. Our two collections of possessions were split up between our parents' homes for the duration of our year-long stay at Dinky College, and we won't have everything under one roof until we move into our own home within the next few months. We've done a lot of whining and complaining and groaning over being separated from the bulk of our possessions, but, in all honesty, we lived just fine without them. Granted, we didn't have a kitchen (and, therefore, no need for kitchen supplies) during our time at Dinky College, but much of our clothing (including my vast jewelry, shoe, and nail polish collection), books, games, and other creature comforts have been stored away from our direct use for almost 21 months.
Sometimes, I do miss certain possessions, but mostly, I can't remember what we even actually have. The majority of the items that we acquired during the bridal shower and wedding were immediately stored and we've really only inventoried those items once, the morning after our wedding in the hotel room. Do we have a cheese grater? Juice glasses? Kitchen washcloths? I couldn't tell you. Husband and I were recently confronted with the vast accumulation of a lifetime of stuff when his grandfather moved out of his home. We inherited quite a few of these possessions as well.
So, what if a tornado or fire ripped through my home? The first items people usually choose to save are those around them, their pets, and their photographs. I would have to agree, but beyond that? I certainly wouldn't save my cheese grater or juice glasses. I would probably save my grandmother's china head doll from her childhood and the Parisian purse she left me from her travels. I might save my scrapbooks of work from school and my mother's artwork and my wedding dress.
Although it will probably be overwhelming, I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to being reunited with these possessions, but how many of them do we actually need? We are certainly privileged with friends and family who helped contribute to our new household, but how much is too much? What are the truly important things in life? What would you save?
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6 comments:
I'd save my wife and daughter. Everything else is replaceable.
I guess if I had time though, my laptop and ham radio...
I bet if this question were posed to the masses, a good number of them would reply "my iPhone." ;-)
Well heck yeah they would. You would too if you paid $1200/year for service to use the stupid thing!
when i was a kid, i was so petrified by disasters, natural or otherwise, that i kept a bag of all my "important" possessions next to my bed, in case we had to make a run for it in the middle of the night.
if i had to choose now, i'd save my dogs (technically i could only save webster; bullet lives with dad and brother) and a few select pictures. everything else is replaceable.
I was a bit similar as a child, Angie. My grandmother's chinahead doll I mentioned in the post was prized by me. When I knew a bad, possibly tornado-producing storm was coming, I would wrap her head and then her body in a number of blankets and stuff her somewhere safe (usually under more blankets)! Ah, the paranoia of childhood.
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