where memories live

  I spent some time yesterday straightening up the attic. I found a lot of dusty memories up there. Old things in boxes and totes. Yes, in this modern time we use totes. They are far more functional that an old cardboard box but lack something as well. I think maybe it is the smell of old cardboard mingled with hot, stale air. As I moved and sorted things, I did peek into the containers to see just what was in there. The question always came to mind, do I keep this or throw it away? I have to say I didn't find much I wanted to throw away. And I try to temper that with the thought that I could donate it to Good Will or some other store. I realize that Good Will makes a profit off of everything I give them, that it isn't a charity at all, but a business. Still, I feel like maybe I am helping someone else out they could at least get a bargain. 

  I do have a lot of tools and things that I most likely will never use again. My days of being the "handyman" are coming to an end. I don't work on the car like I used to, I don't repair plumbing, electrical or do dry wall. Yes, I have a lot of equipment. Some of that equipment is dated, old stuff, old technology, that maybe a collector of that stuff may be interested in. Thing is, it is still new to me. I have a set of files for use on points, feeler gauges and a brake spoon. I have the pliers necessary for doing drum style brakes. Hand tools that will still do the job, but few would use. A brace and bit, a jack plane, hand saws and hacksaws. You never know what you might need. I've been collecting "metric" tools for a while. I'm finding my standard tools are becoming somewhat outdated. I still haven't made the connection in my mind that a 1/2 inch nut, which I can readily identify, is the same as 13MM. My mind was programmed using the fractional system, the American way. My operating system is becoming outdated! One day it will get a reboot, what we call dying. LOL. That's the way I'm thinking of that anyway. 

 We call it downsizing but it is really discarding. Assigning a value to every object can be a difficult process. Often it isn't the object itself but whatever memories are attached to it that is being decided upon. Some of those tools belonged to my father, ordinary looking wrenches or whatever, but I know. I can't throw them out or give them away. I don't want to part with the memory. Maybe I'll get old enough one day that I just don't remember. I hope that isn't the case, but it may come as a blessing as well. Are you willing to part with your memories? I'm not. And that is why we accumulate all this stuff. 

 I posted on FB yesterday joking about this topic. I said how my wife said she needed to tidy up the place, get rid of some of this junk. I told her it isn't junk, it's decor! That's the way it really is too, at least in our minds. One man's junk and all that. I think of that stuff as visual aids. Worked well when we were in kindergarten, and they work well today. And a lot cheaper than Prevergen! Each object has an identity, a memory attached to it. It is only the strength of the memory that retains the object, keeps it from being lost, discarded and forgotten. Just as we all don't want to be forgotten, so too those objects. Why it's a moral obligation to keep that stuff! I can't just forget about it! I'll put it in a tote in the attic. The attic is where memories live.