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The great junk transfer is coming

theglobeandmail.com

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Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#4
I watched a friend have to deal with this. There’s just so much to sort through or get rid of.

My grandfather left dozens of model airplanes behind. No one in the family flies them. Most of the people he used to fly them with died before he did. Fortunately, my grandmother is still alive and we’ve found people who would appreciate the planes.

We could have just burned everything but we have emotional ties to these things.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#5

> Kevin Cameron, whose father died last year and whose mother is in a nursing home, must now decide what to keep or toss from their cluttered home in Shelburne, N.S. this doesn't seem like a difficult decision.

I don’t think you read the whole thing. Dealing with these issues after the loss of a parent (and the even more traumatizing loss of a live parent to dementia) can be totally paralyzing. There’s so much fear that you won’t ever remember them attached to everything.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#7
I had to deal with my Dad’s possessions when he passed a few years ago. We still have quite a lot of it in our garage. He had a lot of technology that is long since obsolete. A lot of books and toys and things that were important to him. It’s had a profound effect on me and how much stuff I am willing to keep, understanding that it will be burdening someone else some day.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#8
When FiL passed away there were multiple buildings on their 50 acres full of stuff. Both he and MiL were only children. Everything over 200 yrs had flowed to them.

“Priceless heirlooms” weren’t of interest to anyone. Auctions led to junk dealers. There is a hopelessness in realizing that lifetimes of activity were of little value, that nobody even knew what many objects were.

I felt like the girl in the movie Labyrinth when they weigh her down w worldly possessions. There’s no way to train for it. It’s like the Kipple of Philip K Dick.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#9
post #5

> Kevin Cameron, whose father died last year and whose mother is in a nursing home, must now decide what to keep or toss from their cluttered home in Shelburne, N.S. this doesn't seem like a difficult decision.

I don’t think you read the whole thing. Dealing with these issues after the loss of a parent (and the even more traumatizing loss of a live parent to dementia) can be totally paralyzing. There’s so much fear that you won’t ever remember them attached to everything.

I understand. Perhaps it is a "clear" decision from a Vulkan perspective, but I recognize that it can be difficult, in practice, for any human.

Reminds me of a scene out of Labyrinth where a character tries to convince the protagonist to put more and more stuff on her back. She at first gives in, but then a spark illuminates in her mind and she realizes the stuff she's putting on her back will be like an anchor, not just a barnacle. So she breaks free. This was one of the most important lessons I learned when I was 6.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#10
After having to deal with all the stuff my parents left behind I swore to myself that I would not do the same thing to my kids.

It's easy to say "just throw it out" but so many items have nostalgia and memories attached. Yet if I hadn't had to sort through it all, I never would have missed that stuff.

I need to get on it. I'm not getting younger.

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