Email Stuff

From: Daughter #1
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 10:50 AM
To: Mom
Subject: stuff
your blog today almost made me cry! sweet little tweetybird daughter #2

I was also thinking about your blog yesterday, as one of the many underlying inspirations for me to apply to law school was, bizarrely, going through all of my debate stuff (which I know was a thorn in your side for many years, but I thank you for letting it take up that closet for so long). I NEEDED to keep it because it represented something about myself, and in going through it all in October I was really reminded of what that is. Anyway, just a thought on "stuff" (and why we need it!)

xoxox
me

The above is an actual email from Daughter #1. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. I asked her permission to use it in a future blog and she gave it, so I’m not telling tales out of school (whatever that means?).

Over the course of the almost three months I have been writing this blog and cleaning/purging my house I have learned a lot. I have discovered that some of our stuff defines us. As my daughter said in her email – her stuff reminded her of who she was meant to be. In the case of my grandmother’s stuff – it reminds us of from whence we came and in the case of my mother’s stuff - it reminds me of who she was and who she inspired me to be. The jury is still out on my stuff. I haven’t figured it out yet.

Stuff can be powerful, stuff can be inspiring or useful, but stuff can also be dangerous. One of the reasons I began this blog (aside from the obvious – wanting a cleaner house) was because I felt I was being stifled by my stuff. Too much stuff makes me feel like I am being smothered, like I am drowning in it. People who know me well will be surprised to hear me say that because I have always been a collector and a pack rat. But I think there was something about turning fifty that made me want to begin the purge. Getting rid of the stuff brings with it a lighter feeling, it is somehow freeing. I have heeded my daughter’s advice and I am careful to keep the things that represent something about myself; sometimes I need that reminder.