Ephemera

Our lives have always been full of things: Easter baskets, flashlights, toys, games, pictures, shoe horns, baseball bats, ashtrays, backstretches, DVDs, church keys, pitchers ... on and on ... more in our later life than in our earlier. And many, if not most, of these thing have disappeared to who knows where? How did they disappear? Is some child still schussing on my old skis or hopping around on my once pogo stick? Is some smoker still lighting up with my old Bic? I can recall many past images, but, for the life of me, can't remember the how, when or why they stole away. A few I would like to have back ... which begs the question -- why did I let them go?

But also, when I look around, I see many of my things that mean nothing to me anymore -- my old stamp collection, many pairs of shoes that I'll never again wear ... and ties ... and belts ... and garish Hawaiian shirts ... and even suits. Since I intend to be cremated, I might as well be wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt at the end.

So that old saying is true ... that we don't own things ... things own us. Ephemera can take over if we don't fight back. Trouble is ... fighting back gets harder the older we get ... a position I am currently in. Time to call 1-800-Got-Junk ... or the American Pickers.

Stuff

"He, who dies with the most toys, wins."

Watching "American Pickers" it becomes overwhelming clear that our current American society is obsessed with stuff (I know why it is called that) ... old signs, toys, ,antique cars, posters, sports memorabilia, bikes, electronics, dolls, ephemera, motorcycles, vintage appliances, architectural salvage, tsotchkes, old furniture, etc., etc. Frank and Mike crawl through huge piles of cast-offs searching for "rusty gold" among all this junk. Watching these two men often pay up for trash leads me to believe that their show makes their money on advertising and not on their resale trading, I have been to their store in Nashville and never saw a displayed item being purchased. Besides who wants to buy a cracked plastic car with no wheels?

To me the saddest part of this TV series is to see a "collector" who has grown too old or died and his or her collection is now overwhelming others and needs to be disposed of. The Pickers  over-paying for a few items of their amassed trash never solves anything. There still remains stacks of maudlin memorabilia. (I am reminded of the hermit who died when his huge piles of old newspapers fell over and crushed him.) So think three times before buying that special pot to cook asparagus or that neato knife to devein shrimp. Make do with what you have.

The lesson, dear children, is never fall in love with objects ... stuff is a cruel lover.

Afterward: You don't own a lot of stuff ... a lot of stuff owns you!