The amazing thing was just how much stuff they have….now they’ve only been married about 3 years, but they were able to completely fill a large storage unit, one room in our house and a portion of my garage with their stuff. Granted a LOT of it probably belongs to that little person that lives with them… I’m pretty sure he has more stuff than them and us combined….
Anyway, by the end of the day yesterday, we had just about everything either in storage or in our house/garage…..and that’s kinda when my meltdown happened…..actually, it wasn’t really a meltdown, it was more of an anxiety attack….ok, not really even an anxiety attack….it was just a feeling of overwhelming despair and claustrophobia…..
It has absolutely nothing to do with them moving in with us, I'm sure that's going to be harder on them than it will for Deb and I. It has only to do with the amount of stuff in our house and in my garage....(yes, you'll notice I use the possesive "my" when speaking of the garage, but "our" when speaking of the house....that's on purpose)
We had been working all day Saturday and all day yesterday moving stuff and by the end we were pretty much just putting things wherever they would go. The result was, that last night when everyone was pretty well wiped out and tired, I wanted to sit somewhere quiet and read my book…..the only problem was there wasn’t an empty, quiet place in the entire house….every couch was filled with either tired bodies or stuff…..so I fled to my garage.
For a couple of hours, I puttered (and pouted) in the garage, moving stuff around, mumbling and muttering to myself about how much crap the kids have and generally being kinda grouchy….it was then that it dawned on me that there’s a very slim (but real) possibility that I too, have a lot of stuff….
The kids actually joked about it when, at their apartment, Christina mentioned to Michelle how much stuff they’ve accumulated. To which Michelle replied, at least it’s not like mom and dad’s house….could you imagine moving all their crap?
"All their crap"????
Granted, we do have a lot of stuff.....but we’ve lived in our house for 11 years... and I think there was actually a short period where we had Deb’s car parked in there... For the most part though, my garage has been used in the same way a storage unit would be used. I’ve built shelves all around the perimeter and even a shelf up above and I still couldn’t put a car in there if my life depended on it.
The funny thing is that, at this exact time last year, I wrote a blog about how my wife and daughter had given me the best Father’s Day gift ever. They cleaned and organized my garage. I can clearly remember the sense of accomplishment and joy at having everything in its place and having my garage, neat, clean and organized.
It was perfect....a sanctuary if you will….a place I could hide out surrounded by tools, bikes, a small refrigerator full of beer and classic rock music playing in the background....
Now, one year to the week later, things are not as they should be….I’m sure when I wrote that blog, I fully intended to keep my garage neat and clean. I knew, that as frustrated as I was when we started cleaning that there was no way I was going to let it get that way again……yet, somehow it did…
Somehow, my stuff has been reproducing….spreading….expanding until this past weekend it again reached the point where my stuff has filled my garage….guess I know what I'm doing this weekend....
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