My ex and I sold our house this month. He lives there so I shouldn’t have much to do, right? Wrong. Neither of us like clutter but we have a lot to go through. He preferred we do this together so we both have a chance at taking what we wanted. It sounded easy enough until I remembered all the containers in storage downstairs.
That’s when I started to question why a person saves what they do. I can understand the six large totes of die cast cars. The blankets our kids used as babies and toddlers brought back many memories. All the Christmas decorations were acceptable as were the few of his seasonal clothing. After that, the items became a bit questionable.
Our son is thirty-four and I found the cards we received from friends and family when he was born. I had to ask myself why I kept them all these years and for what use. With them was also a stack from our wedding. Now really, what did I plan on doing with them anyway?
In another container, I came across old card games I had as a child. The next two were full of quilts that we never used. One was from my mom and the other from his mom. Neither of us is the old-fashioned quilt kind of person. Digging into one more I found a set of fifteen books that my parents bought for me when I was eight.
The ex reminded me that I still had the table and chairs that I received when I was four. My intent was for that set to go to one of my kids for their children. Neither has any and it looks dim on that front. Don’t get me wrong here, though. Not everything I found was mine. There was the little wooden box the ex made in shop class that had old knives in it. They were either broken or so rusty as to be useless. I lifted the lid on one tote and found pictures, letters, drawings and military awards from his brother that died before the ex was born.
Ceramic pieces from my mom, trinkets the kids bought for us, souvenirs from trips and more all needed a home. I think I have it handled after a few trips to the local charity and several bags of garbage. It wasn’t easy, though.
Selling the house isn’t like just packing up and going to another one. This is a complete split of four people. No longer can I have just one container with our kids’ baby blankets. Our son moved away years ago but is coming back to take some items we didn’t need. The ex will live in a small apartment for now. Then there’s our daughter. She was living with her dad but will move in with her aunt. Each person will take their own things as they go.
There are memories in every single one of those containers. Do I need the items to retain them? No. Each one is stored in my head. It sure makes me wonder why we kept some of the things we did, though.
