A Baby Boomer’s Magical Relationship with Stuff
If you’re a typical baby boomer, you’ve got a lot of … um … stuff! But sometimes your relationship with all that stuff is magical. That’s what Oregon baby boomer Courtney Pierce writes about in her debut book called Stitches: A Novel
“I can’t believe we still have a beta hi-fi machine under here. You can’t even buy tapes for it anymore,” Jean said.
“I know, but it’s still better technology than what’s out there,” Spence said and took a sip of his coffee.
“You haven’t plugged it in for twenty-five years. It’s time to let go of it.”
Author Courtney Pierce
“What about all the fabric in the closet upstairs?”
“I know, I know. I’m just as guilty, but I’ll never be able to find some of those designs again.”
She pointed to a stack of tapes. “Let’s take these tapes of the Kinks. You have albums of the European release and the American release of Schoolboys in Disgrace upstairs in the office. You have it on beta, on a cassette for the car, and on CD — also for the car. And you’ve downloaded it onto iTunes. That’s just one title. You have over three thousand albums, Spence. I totally get you want to keep the albums, but can’t you shed some of these extra versions? You never play them.”
Spence stayed silent for a few moments. Finally he said, “But I know they’re there if I want to play them.”
Jean studied the look on his face. If anything more were said about it, her words would stick like poppy seeds in his teeth. His rock music, in all its forms, documented the milestones of his sixty-one years in perfect freeze-frame. “Let’s make a compromise. I’ll get rid of all the old bolts of fabric. I’ll only keep the modern ones I’m going to use for the house, and you get rid of the old tape versions of this music. Deal?”
“All right, that’s fair,” Spence relented. “But not if it’s a live version that I don’t have anywhere else.”
That was fair— “only” the modern fabrics were still ten bolts’ worth.
It had all become stuff, and all that stuff had closed in on them. Treasures quickly became junk when there was no place to put them. It was going to be a breath of fresh air to be moving into an open midcentury house when they got to Portland.
“None of this furniture will work in the new house, either. All of these old knickknacks … I’m kind of sick of them anyway,” Jean said and swept her hand in the air. “I poked around in the attic, and there are boxes up there we never unpacked when we moved in here. I don’t even know half of what’s up there. And we need to do something with all those old plates from your mother and the bedroom furniture from my parents. What the heck are we going to do with a pewter maple-syrup pitcher from 1850? I’m sure all of these things have some value, but who has time to deal with it? I know I don’t.”
Her anxiety level ratcheted up. The long to-do list was getting longer.
Category: Books
The best thing we ever did was sell everything; our house, our car, all our furniture and give our artwork to a ‘stager’ for real estate sales instead of storing anything. We now travel the world with just two suitcases each.
We know so many people who are still packing and crating ‘stuff’ from one place to another. And the expense of doing this is more than we spend to travel.
It is very freeing to leave it all behind.
What do we miss? The awesome set of knives we had. But we make do.
This is sooo true! I finally came to the decision to get rid of stuff like silver, china, etc. My kids don’t have the time or the desire to polish the stuff we got as wedding gifts. Kind of a wake-up call! Look forward to reading your book, Courtney!
How fun is that!! We aren’t quite there yet, but it sure does sound great. I like to travel with an empty suitcase, but the problem is that I come home with it full
An enticing excerpt, Courtney, makes one want to buy the book! And as the other commentator observed, no doubt not realizing that this was part of a novel, it is a very real situation. Could be mistaken for real life, no doubt the best compliment for a writer! Yes, I’m struck again and again how boomer lit produces really excellent writing, very professional sure but also deeply sensitive. It was a pleasure to read and my next step is to put your book on my To Read list and download it!
Oh, we are so where your characters are Courtney! Our ‘problem’ is books, oh and tobacco tins (I kid you not!), a collection of Private Eye magazines, and yes, the plates from my mother. I love the idea of two suitcases each, one for clothes and a heavy one for books, but it will never happen…
Man oh man, can I ever relate to this story! It seems that this is a universal constant in our society, especially with us Boomers. It’s no wonder that they actually made a reality TV show on this topic (“Hoarders”).
Evidence of this pervasive behaviour is obvious with all of the storage facilites in most major cities. It’s a very successful industry and it seems that they can’t build enough of them. Ironically, people park their $40K cars in the driveway year-round because their garages are full of worthless (priceless?) “stuff”!
When I divorced my first wife, I left her the house that was full of “stuff” that had built up over 15 years or more; some of it was still in the original moving boxes. I couldn’t believe how quickly and how much it had accumulated.
My new wife and I both started new lives together and had nothing except our clothes. We literally started from scratch but it didn’t take long to start collecting “stuff”, eventhough we weren’t into knick-knacks, collectibles, or hobbies.
That was 15 years ago and since then we’ve moved a total of 8 times, buying, renovating, and selling properties. That eventually was the cure for our hoarding illness. After moving the same boxes over and over again, and paying for extra storage we finally realized that if we hadn’t used anything in 2 years, we’ve already learned to do without it. So, every time we moved after that, we just got leaner and leaner. Our family started looking forward to our next move, because they would benefit from our down-sizing. What they couldn’t use went to charity or the garbage.
We now live in a small 2 bedroom condo with no locker or outside storage. We feel totally uncluttered and can pick up and move in a U-Haul van within 12 hours. We now realize that we didn’t own all that “stuff”; it owned us!
This sounds so interesting. And so true. I have so many “things”, my Mom’s teacup collection, my mother-in-law’s Swarovski collection. What to do with all of it? I good real life situation. I can’t bear to part with these momentos, yet they are cluttering up my life. Going to download your book, it sounds great.
I love the concept of this article – well done Courtney! We all have attachment to different “stuff!” I think the “stuff” we are most attached to says a great deal about who we REALLY are. I’ve moved several times in the last few years and had to go through ALL of my “stuff” and decide what to keep. The things that made the cut are very precious to me because they represent a special memory or person. Again, nice job Courtney, we can all relate to this!
Courtney,
This excerpt from your book has got me to thinking about all the many LP albums and music CDs I have in storage … storage that’s costing me a monthly fee. I no longer have a turntable to play LP albums on. And, I collected about 4,000 CDs while consulting for a major record label about 20 years ago. But I no longer play CDs. My music is on iTunes.
And, that’s just scratching the surface on all my “stuff.”
Thanks for a terrific piece.
David
Thank you all for the wonderful comments. I knew I’d strike a nerve because if I was feeling it enough to write about the “stuff conversation”, then others would be too. But, then again, some of those things really are magical – they’re part of who we are. We all may have hundreds of books, but I bet there are a few precious ones that will stay on the shelf because we have to finger the spine every now and again.
Ah, for the time and wisdom to separate the “stuff” from the magic.
When my husband and I moved on board our boat for several years of cruising, we left almost everything from our CA house for the buyers–or we sold it. That was glorious. The problem we now have is that we’re back home taking care of my mama and almost crowded out by “stuff” from four other lives: my East Coast life, my mama’s life, my auntie’s life, and a couple of things from their brother’s life. So, two boomers and an 85 year old with house stuff, boat stuff, and stuff-stuff!
At least I have my corner for writing and a view of the water, so I can ignore a lot of it. (Though I really should get that dust rag out.)
We are so there. Last fall we reached our tipping point and made the decision to move from our 3,600 sq.ft.city home on the TX gulf coast and to our 1,200 sq. ft. retreat in the Rio Grande National Forest. We tossed, gave away, and sold tons of “stuff.” Freeing, indeed and we figured we’ve added ten years to our life span!!
Great post. Now off to add Stitches to my TBR pile.
Of course, I seem to have done everything backwards from much of my generation. Sold everything I owned and “retired” in my 20s to sail a boat around the South Pacific; went to college & law school in my 30s; got married & began my career in my 40s; became a first time parent in my 50s; and recently moved from our small home to a much bigger one (more than twice as big with a huge yard for my kids) where I am now happily buying & accumulating lots MORE STUFF. So, I downsized in my 20s & am in the process of accumulation now. Hmmmm, just part of a highly diverse generation I guess.
Looking forward to reading your book. Please check out my new novel at http://www.CalWriter.net