Comments on: Selling a House and Searching a Soul

By: Patricia Paugh

Patricia Paugh — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:46:27 +0000

I too am cleaning out a house, uncertain what life has in store for me.
As I drove home today, I thought of the old Rugrats ring purchased for $2.99 when my daughter, then 7, and I never missed an episode of the TV show. It is stored in an old oak dresser. What to do what that ring, I thought as I drove.
The actual ring is pink plastic topped with a ball featuring the characters’ faces. It is enclosed in fluid so the interior floats and moves. I like it.
I’m not even sure my daughter remembers it, but every time I open that drawer, I am afraid I will see it and again wonder what to do with it.
With my future uncertain, unused exercise equipment, purchased with the best of intentions, has gone out the door. My father’s wedding band has been sold. My mother’s unfinished quilts sit in the garage, soon to be given to someone who will finish her work.
The passage of time has made it easier to part with these things.
I remember reading a story about a woman, perhaps Mother Teresa, who had surrendered all of her possessions save a blue pitcher she loved. She lent it to a friend who accidentally broke it. Tragic, right?
The woman thanked the borrower for destroying her last tie to the material world.
I am not so enlightened and so I wonder: what do I do with the Rugrats ring?

By: Fred Aun

Fred Aun — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:18:56 +0000

Yup. I do get attached to things, such as the 1972 dirt bike that I’ve kept since buying it new. But I’m not a hoarder. Really!

By: MorningGlory

MorningGlory — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:55:41 +0000

I’m sure you feel like you’re selling a part of yourself; clearly there is a deep attachment to this PARTICULAR house. For that reason, I’m sorry that life has chosen to intervene and force you to do something you’d rather not do.

By: Fred Aun

Fred Aun — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:50:05 +0000

Thanks, Kristy. I just read your post about your lawnmower. At least your mower wasn't smashed-in by a runaway car, something that happened to my riding mower a few years back.

By: Kristy

Kristy — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:41:22 +0000

Well put. What you have to keep telling yourself is that you loved your house and the adventures it gave you. Your house was better for it and you were better for it.