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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

I'm a material girl

Okay so here's the story. This morning I was minding my own "bidness". I just finished reading my email and I clicked over to Jim's email so it would be all set for him to read, 'cause I'm nice that way. My eye caught an email sent from my sister-in-law with the subject "dresser". Well, this piqued my curiosity, and since it was from a family member, I didn't feel like it was prying if I read it.

She was sending an email to all the siblings stating that they were downsizing and wanted to get rid of an antique dresser that once belonged to Jim's parents. If none of the siblings were interested, then she was going to open it up to the grandchildren.

Now. My husband doesn't even feel the NEED to mention this little tidbit to me.

Why?

Because he is NOT materialistic.

I, on the other hand, am.

Don't get me wrong. I don't go for fancy cars; my fingers don't drip with diamond rings, and no - I don't own any furs. But I am a sucker for family heirlooms. And having nice things for the HOME.

Granted, I don't HAVE a home right now.

But I WILL have a "someday home", God willing and the creek don't rise.

I have a storage unit filled with stuff to prove it. Silly, I know. Five years of paying for storage. I could have bought all new stuff. But I can NOT replace things that my father made for me - he died in 1995. I can NOT replace the rocking chair that I rocked my babies to sleep in.

I have boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations, photographs, books I couldn't part with, and yes, even an old dresser from when I was growing up. My sister, Linda, wrote in INK in the bottom drawer something to the effect of, "I hate the twins so much!" That right there is priceless!

Anyway, I did get rid of the majority of our stuff when we (read Jim) decided to hit the road. We gave most of our furniture to our kids. I stored my kitchen set because it was only a year old. I wanted to save my bedroom set for my "someday house" - put it in a second bedroom for guests.

There was a problem.

Jim and our son, Jason, couldn't get my dresser down the stairs.

Now, somehow the movers got it UP the stairs, but who am I to judge here?

So the two guys struggled with the dresser, it got stuck in the stairwell, Jason ran to the neighbors for help, they STILL couldn't get it down the stairs. WTF???

So my husband said, "That's it. I'll just have to CUT IT UP!"

You heard me.

So there I sat at the bottom of the stairs, crying, as Jim went to my dresser with a chain saw. (He would interrupt here and say it wasn't a chain saw but another saw.) The point is - it was very symbolic - he was ripping my heart apart, like the dresser, by getting rid of my stuff.

His side of the story? "The dresser was a piece of crap. The bottom was falling out. It had scratches on it. No big deal."

Another case of he said/she said.

If Jim had his druthers, he would have gotten rid of EVERYTHING. He said, "Why don't I just take pictures of everything, put it on the computer, and any time you are feeling melancholy, just call up the pictures and look at the stuff?"

Yep. That's my old man.

So now you know why he didn't bother telling me about the email.

I told him that I want the dresser.

"WHY?" He asked me incredulously, looking at me like I just grew two heads.

"Because - I have nothing from your parents, and I would love to have this."

"Where are we going to put this?" Asked the-glass-is-half-full-pessimist.

"In storage."

"Where in storage?"

"If it doesn't fit one of my siblings will hold it for me," I answered off the top of my head.

So Jim sent a reply to my sister-in-law. Hope we're not too late.

Now we have to figure out how to get that sucker down to us. It's in Minnesota.


Just call me Madonna.



But you won't find me wearing one of these.



At least not in public.

14 comments:

Kathy's Klothesline said...

I know what you mean about heirlooms. I have a few pieces and the ones that wouldn't fit in my little house live with my daughters.

Brian Miller said...

ha. yeah i fight the accumulation of stuff all the time...i have a material girl myself. smiles.

Bossy Betty said...

I try not to care about stuff like that, but I like family stuff around! Glad you are not planning on putting the dresser in the RV.

Betty Manousos said...

I'm a material girl too. I love my house to be filled with nice items.
I don't like furs and diamonds as well.
B

Anonymous said...

You can not put a price on family memories...I so agree, I guess that makes me a material boy;)

f8hasit said...

I'm the same way with our families furniture. My dad has been in this 'clear the house out' mode since my mom died, and everytime I go to visit I end up bringing a truck load of stuff back with me because I couldn't bear him throwing it out or giving it away.

My basement is now jam packed with stuff that I may never use and end up sending the same e-mail out that your sister in law did.

:-)

I hope this dresser makes it down the stairs!

Meeko Fabulous said...

I swear men have no feelings. For some odd reason I form a bond with stuff. I'm weird. LoL

Maude Lynn said...

Just don't let him get that dresser near any stairs!

Wendy said...

Oh Pat. I feel for ya'!
I would let you store it here in my house, but i'd have to get rid of some of my own family crap before i could fit it in here.
=-)

Teresa said...

I'm rght there with ya! I have a dresser that was my grandmother's (she died in 1969) that needs to go - but I can't bear to part with it. Amy has a dressing table that belonged to Ron's mom (it's a mid-50s number) that Rex doesn't want to move and we can't bear to part with it, either. No clue what we're going to do with it.

The dresser I used for my clothes, then I used it for each of my children's clothes - and Amy even took it with her to VA when she moved. It's been around.

Mike said...

Oh, it makes no logical sense for you to have that dresser! Women! Geez! LMAO!

Donna said...

Hahahahaaa....I Also fee the same way! My Hubby would have said the Same thing as well...
hughugs

AiringMyLaundry said...

I can be quite materialistic. Some stuff I just can't give up.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Pat -- I didn't realize how much you missed your "things." That makes Full-timing more difficult. I hope you still think it's worth it! I get to see our family heirlooms when we visit the kids. That's good enough for me. (I do hope they take good care of them.)