Stuff

I've had a lot of time lately to think about stuff. Troy and I have moved from Minnesota to Oregon to Virginia and then to Belgium and back. All of these moves have been painful, primarily because we never seem to realize how much stuff we have until we try to move it. And Troy's robots and robot parts keep demanding more and more space.

I thought that the move from Belgium back to the States would be a piece of cake because we were only allowed a couple of bags each on the flights. Boy was I wrong! We acquired more stuff than I realized. In our last week there, we sold some of these household items (mostly kitchen/cooking stuff). By the last days we started giving things away and finally we resorted (unfortunately) to trashing some things.

Throwing things away is tough. I'm always thinking I can find a use or re-use for stuff. I probably get this trait from my dad who finds all sorts of interesting ways to use things. He's currently using an old deep fryer to steam wood so that he can bend it for different woodworking projects. And an old steering wheel came in handy for a contraption he built that allows him to lift heavy pieces of sheet rock to the ceiling without another set of hands.

This past weekend I started helping my mom and Tim clean out his parents' house in preparation for an estate sale. Imagine how much stuff you can accumulate living in a house for several decades! Add the pack rat behavior of my step grandma to this scenario and you might be able to understand what we are dealing with. It's pretty overwhelming. Picture a kitchen with every gadget created since the 1950s. I think they discovered 6 different bundt pans and at least as many jello molds.

The burning question for me this week: Why do people feel the need to accumulate so much stuff?