Just Jot It January 17

Just Jot It January 17th – Collection

 

Jot -Collection

I use to collect lots of things -horse statues, mugs, rocks, antique books, books, and dishes -if I got the urge, I’d buy anything that caught my eye.  Then -I bought my parents house.

How did buying this house stop my urge to collect?  Simple -my dad was a hoarder.  Not your typical hoarder -he was neat and organized about his hoarding.  A result of living during the depression.  Mom didn’t want to move all his stuff -so I got the pleasure.

It was difficult to get rid of anything of my dad’s.  It meant so much to him, and so, it meant something to me as well.

My dad grew up on this land, and his dad was raised here as well.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned that, so I apologize.  Daddy built this house, with his own hands, and all of this was where he wanted to die.

Mom didn’t want the same thing.  She wanted to live in town, with people around.  Our home is secluded, encircled by woods and trees taller than what you find most places.  Unfortunately, mom had us cut down some of the biggest ones, but we have a few left.  She was lonely here.  Not in the beginning, but as time passed, and they knew dad’s health was increasingly getting worse; she grew increasingly lonely.  Daddy loved mom so much, he gave up his home, and moved to town.

When he made that choice, he also gave up his worldly possessions -as he finally understood, he couldn’t take it with him.  A lesson, I now understand.

I didn’t learn that lesson, until after he died, just a few short months later.  My lessons, came from dividing and conquering -his stuff.

I am really sorry, daddy – I threw away all of your mechanic magazines.  I wanted to at least give them to someone who collected them, but Bob wanted them out of the house.  There must have been 30 years worth -from the 60s to 90s.

I also tossed his many 8-track players, and the 12 record players (with the exception of the one I kept).  Bob said the 10 speakers were no good anymore, and he sent them to the dump.

We sent the 800+ 8-track tapes to a collector, in a different state.  I hope he enjoys them.

We are still sitting on over 2000 albums -as they are making a comeback.

There were only about 40 mechanic books, but they were in such bad condition.  In the end, we were forced to feed them into recycling.

Ah, daddy loved to get a VHS for every park he went to -their gone, with the 300+VHS tapes of movies.

I still have the 20 cameras -as I just can’t part with them.  I love photography!

The last thing he collected was tools -and well, Bob felt he could hold on to them.  Go figure!

Mom has never collected much of anything other than dishes, and jewelry.  She left behind over 100 pieces of depression wear and some other antique red style dish.  My sister took the red dishes.  We decided to divide the depression wear.  There were still so many pieces left.  I ended up giving the ones I didn’t want, back to mom for her to place in a thrift store.  She still has plenty left, so don’t feel sorry for her.

By the time, I’d cleaned up his collections, removed all the metal, and steel parts lying around, plus got rid of the 3 campers, I’d had enough of collections.  I believe the urge to collect anything is firmly out of my system.  Then again, the thought of putting my four children through the same mess -seems almost appealing.  He He, Ha Ha -the mommy is out to get you!