Pamela Loxley Drake

A garage sale is on the horizon.

Well, at least it will be if we can finally sort things out. We are clearing out those things that we have not used in the last seven years. A bit of this and a bit of that. It all adds piles, you know. Something goes into the pile then you pull it out again. Loren adds something to the pile. I put it back. And vice versa.

Memories pop up and an item is gently pulled to the side. Things that represent the past.

For everything that goes out, something new will probably take its place. We do that, don’t we? And, in a few years, we’ll empty the garage once more. Things.

I must admit that we have the clutter of the generations. Toys from when I was small, my children were small, my grandchildren were small. Why do I keep them? I played on the floor with little ones. I saw imagination take over and stories begin. How can I part with those?

When we sold the farm, we found stacks of plastic ice cream buckets, old greeting cards, pieces of this and of that. Coming from a time of the Depression, my parents threw very little away.

Now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t keep things that we love and hold dear. However, plastic buckets meant nothing to the three daughters. Our children only wanted the things that held their memories with their grandparents. We wanted those items that held our childhood memories.

What a conundrum. What to keep, what to sell. Similar to life. What do we hold on to and what do we let go? A clean garage will make me feel better. I might even have more cabinet space. Letting go is a good thing.

“Honey, why do we have three shovels?”

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Pamela Loxley Drake is a Beaverton resident and self-described lifelong “farm girl.” You can contact her at pamldrake@gmail.com.