Today was hard. Today I loaded Allen's trusty GMC Denali up to the gills with the intent of taking box loads of treasures one hour north to a Consignment Shop. I know junk and I know treasures. Lenox China and Waterford Crystal are treasures. Downsizing from a 6,000 sq. ft. home to a 2,300 sq. ft. home is a challenge. Where we once entertained on a regular basis, we find we are no longer interested in doing so. Two years of Covid virtually eliminated intimate dinner parties. Thus, setting "Martha Stewart-like" tables is nothing of interest to me anymore. Age has a lot to do with it. At 72, I get tired early in the evening and am ready for bed long before 10pm. But, I digress.
We completed our move on Halloween Eve of 2020. For some reason, this tiny house has four garages and we filled each to the brim with moving boxes I am still opening. Once you put what you want to retain in place, there is a lot....I mean, a lot left! I've always been a collector....and I was always fortunate enough to be able to add to my collection whenever I saw something I "had to have". Married in 1973, by 2015 I had acquired my mothers china, also. I've always loved her pattern and so am willing to part with my own Lenox wedding china. Along with the china, however, came the crystal jam dishes, vases, pickle plates, creamers and candy bowls. Each time I unwrapped a tiny treasure, I placed it in a carton to be re-distributed. The numbers of cartons kept growing.
Winter is coming and my goal now is to be able to park the cars in the garage this year. I've made a sizeable dent in the moving boxes but now I am down to these cartons of treasures. I cannot even begin to list what we have donated to various local organizations. Almost all of our furniture is having to be replaced due to room size constraints so all of that went early on. Furniture is easy to give up...I have no tie to furniture. It's giving away pieces my mother, my grand-mother and even my great grand-mother once held in their hands. It feels wrong. I feel as if these were passed to me and it is now my duty to share and protect. I just want someone to see it on a shelf somewhere and be jolted into that burning desire to claim it as theirs.
The point of my mind wandering is that no one wanted it...any of it. Boxes of treasures and no one wanted it. The shop owners have similar refrains....since Covid, no one entertains at home anymore. Heck, it has nothing to do with Covid...people these days don't entertain. They order food that is delivered by UPS in boxes. They have few friends to invite over anyway. In todays home, both adults are working, few attend church, fewer engage in social clubs or other ways time was passed years ago. Friendships are few and far between....relationships are no longer a priority.
A good friend accompanied me on the drive north to Hendersonville. She knew the owner of the shop and speaks highly of it. Once we arrived I could see why....it is filled with beautiful things....filled....to the rafters. She isn’t moving anything. We wandered around and there wasn’t much I didn’t want to claim as my own. An old woman wanting more old stuff...that’s me! Only I need to rid myself of a carload! She walked out to the car with me, briefly looked at what I had and very honestly stated that she had no room for anything more. She suggested a shop down the road and we did stop and try there but it was the same.....lots of lookers...no buyers. Well, there would be no point in returning all of these boxes to my garage... so I announced to my friend that we would return home and drive to our local Habitat for Humanity shop and deposit it all there. My friends reaction was to announce that she was going to go Christmas shopping at Habitat tomorrow. I hope she finds something. I really do. I want everything to find a good home. There is a part of me in every piece. I will miss it all.
