Guest Blogger Lorie Sheffer: The “kid’s” stuff

Old toys and children's things
The “kid’s” stuff (photo: Lorie Sheffer)

 

For any of you mid-lifers out there who still have kids at home or in college, let me clue you in on a secret. They never come get their “stuff”. If it’s in your basement now, it will always be in your basement. If it’s stuffed in a closet, there it shall remain.

Our basement flooded last year. I frantically ran down the steps and toward a stand mixer box that was sitting in four inches of water. I ended up throwing it over my head and into the water behind me, not realizing the box was empty. Yes, my son had stored empty boxes that I thought were filled. There are also full cartons, bags and items sitting out in the open. A megaphone from my daughter’s high school cheerleading days sits in the corner. She is going to be 34 years old in June.  There’s a Big Wheel down there, along with a rusty tricycle. There are cartons and cartons of now obsolete college textbooks.

Last year I suggested to my husband that we have quite a bit of storage potential in the basement for seasonal things like pool supplies and deck furniture.  It was going to be his project to clean and organize the space. He got part of it done and then gave up. Where to go with it all?

I read a Dear Abby column in which a young woman told of her and her 5 siblings going home for Christmas. They were concerned that their retired parents had gone overboard on the obscene number of gifts under the tree. On Christmas morning they began unwrapping and howled with laughter when they realized their parents had gift-wrapped all of the things the kids had left behind as they moved into adulthood.

My kids don’t want me to throw things away, and I refuse to store them for another decade. Our solution is a yard sale. Cash is such a wonderful incentive. This morning as I was getting ready to start yet another day of pricing, a knock came to my door. It was a neighbor telling me that she and three other families on the next street are having yard sales this weekend, too. They are trying to unload their kid’s hoard.

A really important thought: let’s not think of coming alive as an option.

New York Post front page story Lance Armstrong admits vile betrayal
Odds are high we lie to ourselves

 

A really important thought: let’s not think of coming alive as an option.

When we lie to ourselves, we are no better than someone who makes world headlines.

We lie to ourselves when we say “Someday I’m gonna start living my life differently, better. Someday.”

Someday rarely comes.

For a quick health snack, click Lane8.

 

What’s one thing you just can not get out of your head?

Dead center midfield on the Super Dome floor, looking south
Dead center midfield on the Super Dome floor

 

What’s one thing you just can not get out of your head?

Sooner or later it becomes crystal clear. Life is not a dress rehearsal. So I’m here to remind you why today is not a good day to put your dreams on hold.

Photo from 50-yard line, midfield, Mercedes Benz Super Dome, two weeks before Super Bowl 47. How’d I get there?

By remembering that living our lives based on what we’re gonna do isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

Go!

For a quick health snack, click Lane8.