This winter has been a season of sorting. A time of gathering and picking through items, weighing their usefulness, condition, necessity, and then piling them to keep, or donate or to discard. Small kitchen appliances, articles of clothing, papers, decor, dishes, so many things to sort. As I handle each, I survey it and ask, “is it as valuable as the space it keeps in my home?” It’s a daunting task. But seeing bare space in a cupboard or drawer gives me so much satisfaction. I read a few articles about “Swedish Death Cleaning”. Despite its ominous name, it’s just a practice of sorting and weeding out one’s belongings to ease the burden on your children or carers when you become unable to perform that task, yourself. I’m slowly coming to the realization, that my “treasures” are not always treasured by my progeny. Cutesy clutter may not be met with the same enthusiasm as I had while collecting it. Therefore, distribution to people who will treasure your clutter should happen sooner, rather than later. It should be given to those who do find value in it. One’s loyalty to you as a human or family member, isn’t transferred to your stuff at the time of death. More than likely…. those items go to them with a certain amount of guilt, dread and resentment because of the impossibility of finding room for all of it. That’s worth remembering.
Life on Chicken Creek 