Stuff

We are painting the main living area of our home. Rather, Dave Montgomery is painting it for us. Meanwhile we live in the turmoil of stuff.

 Artistry of Dave Montgomery

Some of this stuff you need, a sofa or chesterfield as Newfoundlanders commonly call it. You need a table and chairs, but two sets? All the extra fancy dishes and items that fill up cabinets, cupboards, closets, drawers, are they really necessary? I think not. That's what my sixty year old self thinks anyway.

                Stuff

Having been raised by a woman who didn't like dishes for other than utilitarian purposes, it was as if I made up for Mom's lack of fancy dishes. In addition, my desire came from looking in my grandmother Pretty's china cabinet when I was young. She loved beautiful dishes and long after she was gone, Pop Pretty kept her fancy dishes in a lovely cabinet. I was hooked.

In my younger years, I loved crystal. We lived in a mobile home in Buchans after we married and there was a lovely built-in cabinet which I filled with pinwheel crystal, a dinner set, and a myriad of other items which I 'needed' at the time. Then we moved to Grand Falls and the china cabinet got bigger. You know what happened.

          Some essentials

We moved to Summerside four years ago and I purged before we left Grand Falls-Windsor. As you can see, the purge wasn't deep enough. Now I see the stuff as overwhelming dust collectors. My daughter hasn't embraced the crystal and china craze, having the more practical side of my mother instead. Well done, Mom.

So the stuff will be disappearing to other homes over the next few months and life will be simpler. I discovered that the simple pleasures of family and friends don't require crystal and china, just presence, the real gift.