Of Boxes and "Stuff"

So, a few weeks ago, I got the last few boxes of mine out of my dad and Linda's basement. For the first time in years, practically the first time in my life I can remember, all my stuff is in one place!

Having all my "stuff" together has made me think about the way I view things/my take on materialism. I'm not always sure while sometimes I can be quite generous and other times clingy to my things. Growing up, I had my things split between my mom's and my dad's houses. That meant that quite often, something wasn't where I wanted or needed it to be. Sometimes I had to cart special outfits back and forth to have them for the appropriate occasion. Other times I forgot my glasses at my dad's house and had to wait until the last minute before I went to bed to take my contacts out, or I would have been effectively blind.

I think what resulted from that was a strange combination of clinginess and apathy toward things. I had to learn to plan ahead and sometimes deal without things, because sometimes I forgot them, or things came up and I didn't have what I needed. You can definitely see this in how I always overpack for every trip now, often taking an entire extra wardrobe of clothes for different weather, "just in case I need them". Overall, what developed in me was a need to feel like I had what I needed, whenever I wanted. I'm quite happy to give away food to whoever's at my house - there's lots of it. And I loan books quite freely - while they're unique, I have more than I could ever read at once. But anything I have that's unique - I only have one of - I tend to be much more shy of lending, even if I don't think I'll really need it while it's gone. I always have this sort of panicky feeling of "what if I need it?" That is my true legacy of split stuff.

Perhaps now that I have consolidated my material possessions, I can learn to hang onto them a little more loosely.