Trials and Tribulations of Moving
Now that I’m moving, I’ve been picturing my shit in my new space. Suddenly I realized that unlike my new roommate, I have ZERO adult furniture. I have my $12 Target bookshelves that I use as nightstands, a $24 Ikea console for my dated TV, an Urban Outfitters blue folding chair, and a small “vintage” table I found on the street that looks like a dog spent some serious time gnawing on… but anyway, I feel sorta' silly… like I should be all grown up with grown up furniture and paintings that are professionally framed instead of my Target framed Frankenstein picture. Lindsay Lohan seems like more of an adult than I do… I never see her in sneakers… and I bet she has houses full of adult furniture.
But anyway.
I’ve started purging a bunch of my shit. Every time I move I realize how much I have, and frankly, it’s way too fucking much.
And I want to get rid of half much shit, but half my shit consists of “Guilt Items”… you know – those gifts your grandma made or your Ukrainian Peace Corps contact was so excited to give you… but what are you really going to do with that crocheted toilet paper cover? and I’m never going to wear those heart shaped gold earrings…and the one time a year I would think of wearing them, I almost always forget to… And I feel so bad even considering getting rid of these things or even thinking that they’re useless… uh… and out of pure guilt I’ve been moving these “Guilt Gifts” from place to place.
Please, someone tell me it’s okay to leave them behind?
posted by MissCurious @ 10:17 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
yes its ok to leave them behind. and adult furnature is overrated. why the hell would you want to be like slutty Ms. Lohan?
I totally hear you on this one ... when I moved last year, I moved in with this girl who is a little younger than me (25), and SHE had all this really really nice furniture including the professionally framed paintings, coordinated dishes, even a wire basket with wooden apples as a centerpiece for her dining room table. I felt like such a dolt with my target furniture and the cardboard box I was using for a hamper (hers is a wooden framed cloth one with "lights" and "darks" embrodiered on either half).
Anyway, I got over it - and now I live comfortably on her couch all weekend, watching her television while drinking wine from her glasses.
As for the guilt gifts - for some reason I carry around every plastic animal and embrodiered napkin my students gave me and don't even get me STARTED on the drum I lugged all the way from the Zambian village of Katondo. But, I have found a use for them - I sometimes regift them. I make up some big dramatic story about how some villager gave it to me and wished me a safe journey home, and then that very wooden bowl protected me from a snake bite as I traversed the Serenje on my bicycle.
People get all misty eyed and really appreciate the thought.
And I tell myself that my foriegn friends would appreciate that the gift is continuing to spread happiness.
leave them!
Where do people get all this "grown up furniture"??? No worries - plenty of time for that if you so choose - I still think your places always look more put together than most peoples.
And dump stuff - keep the memories :-)
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