Racks

𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 29, 2020

One of the surprises we found when we moved back to the house three years ago was Melissa’s dad decided to remodel the outbuilding without letting her know.   He basically cut the storage room in half and put a wall across the entrance to make more room for his “shop.”  The original storage room was 8’ wide and ran the entire 20’ along the back.  Melissa and her mother had stored mementos, Melissa’s wedding china, tons of Christmas items, and old tax records.  These were on racks arranged along both sides of the room.  Like most remodeling projects, this was never completed.  There were outlets dangling from the ceiling and the door was thrown across the new entrance. Even worse, the items had been taken down and the racks given away.  These carefully stored possessions had been hastily trashed in the remaining part of the room.

When we saw what happened, we immediately retrieved the racks, but were overwhelmed by the chaos left in the room.  I was working on other projects and the shed was not a priority, until now.  This was originally supposed to be my “man cave,” but that idea had not gone far either.  I decided this was the day and I would tackle the impossible.  I thought I would need shelves so that is where my task began.  When I measured to room, I noticed there were still several shelves left.  Most of the racks we retrieved had be subsumed into the succulents.  Still, I thought I should see what I needed before going out to buy more.

I removed the boxes of taxes to be shredded, the books and the few clothes to be given away, and then went about rearranging the remaining boxes on the four shelves left.  I was surprised to find many of the boxes were empty.  These were left over from tools that had been purchased and given away.  There were also a lot of empty Christmas decoration boxes, along with carefully stored Christmas items.  Sorting out what went where would have to be left for another day.  Today was about organizing the chaos.  “The first step is complete.

𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦:  I have always been amazed by the Christmas decorations Melissa has.  She was a collector of several different brands of ceramic.  Many were stored in the shed, but we also have an attic full.  Melissa suggested we ought to have a Christmas in October Sale.  I had been collecting books since I began college.  I kept many of the books during my quest for five degrees and added more from library book sales.  When we moved, I narrowed my collection down to 15 boxes of “important” books.  I donated the other 42 boxes to the local library.  I have noticed we tend to keep stuff because it is easier than doing the work to decide what we really need.  The same can be said for our attitudes.  It is easier to keep the status quo than work to create reform or even justice.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.