Cleaning Up the Leftovers

I spent the morning participating in an indoor yard sale at our family center. I didn't make a whole lot of money, but I did dispose of material things that either reminded me of someone I no longer want in my life or things that once belonged to someone else and I had been left to take care of them.

I had very little to bring back home and I was relieved that I am now down to what actually belongs to me and is truly my responsibility. That is with the exception of a playhouse full of toys my grandson no longer plays with. My attitude about that is, that's his problem. Since it isn't actually in my house I can't see it.

When I think back to all the things that have been dumped on me in the past I really have to laugh. My mother died unexpectedly in 1987 and I was responsible for dealing with an apartment full of her junk. It took 10 days to filter through all the material things she had collected over 70+ years. To say she was a pack rat is putting it mildly!

Next came my divorce from my husband of 27 years in 1999. When he moved out he left behind a large shed full of garbage that I had to again filter through. It took months. Although he had tools and thought of himself as a handyman of sorts he did not take care of his possessions. Not even himself, now that I think about it! That may be part of the reason we are no longer together!

Then came my darling daughter, who in 2001 decided to move to New York state to be with her new husband and await the birth of their son. She was at the time in her last trimester, so I suppose I should take her hormones into consideration. As a parting gift she left me with all sorts of crap; including a garage floor upon which she had dumped all the items left over from a yard sale she had with her mother-in-law. Bye bye sweetheart do have a nice life!

Excuse me, when did I become the local garbage attendant? Did that happen when I became a mother in 1960? If I had known then what I know now...well you know the rest of that I suppose.

Official notice to the world- I am no longer in the business of taking care of other people's left overs!