I can’t tell if I’m a kingpin or a pauper
This
really isn’t a travel piece, but it is one of good karma.
Faced
with needing to consolidate a lifetime into a manageable array of boxes for the
impending move to Janet's townhouse was daunting. The task of unloading much of
a four bedroom home in order to squeeze into her place already brimming with things was a steep task, and given the
short time of just 7 weeks until closing there was no time to dawdle or for
that matter haggle over selling things in a yard sale. Time constraints and
work pressing meant I had to make quick decisions and given the horrific timing
I could not even rely on Lambertville’s storied Sparkle Week where one can throw
EVERYTHING away. For whatever reason, Sparkle Week was pushed back to June this
year rather than the first week in May.
 |
| SPARKLE WEEK 2016 |
So, I
realized I could not bring THAT much with me and unless the item was slathered
with sentiment or necessity it wasn’t making the trip to Collegeville. BUT…I
collect things! Matchbooks, t-shirts, hats, sand, Olympic pins are just some of
the crap I’ve acquired over the years. How does one toss away a bottle of sand
from Normandy Beach, or for that matter the Banzai Pipeline!? When a matchbook
from the Japanese Bullet Train is hovering over the abyss of a garbage can how
can I let it go!? Don’t even mention my Olympic pins, or, my Aloha shirts.
PAYING FORWARD
Turns
out these sentimental things were easy to keep, because I wasn’t giving them
away, but having a four bedroom fully furnished house had to be unloaded.
Janet’s place was already nicely furnished so I had to get rid of stuff
quickly. Thankfully I was smart and knew this move was inevitable, so for the
past few years I had started shedding things in earlier Sparkle Weeks, or
giving away things to people who could use them. The past couple of years my
pile at Sparkle Week was impressive; the envy of the neighborhood.
 |
| The King of Sparkle Week |
My dining
room set and my son’s old bedroom set found new homes with greatly appreciative
friends. I gave away my Discovery 158 Old Town canoe to my childhood friend. My son took Edgar, the steer skull I drove
with in the back of a rented sedan all the way from Texas. I had driven to the
Lone Star State in order to research my second novel, “The Music Made Me Cry,”
which takes place in the Hill Country of Texas. I offered my rustic looking
chiminea to the buyers of my house and they said they had been secretly hoping
I WOULD leave it behind.
The
only item sold was my record collection. The rest was given away. Goodwill
Industries and the Salvation Army each had numerous visits from me, but it was
the VVA, that helped me the most and left me feeling the best about the whole
process. The Vietnam Veterans of America helps the general welfare of veterans
of all conflicts, but especially those homeless and disabled. They take
donations of clothes, shoes, books, small appliances and other household goods,
as long as the boxes or items can be carried by one person and with them VVA helps assist
those veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other
disabilities. It is a good cause and, they come to your door.
You
phone or go to their website in order to schedule a pick up. It’s that easy. I
felt like I was doing something worthy and it was a huge help with my limited
time.
The
house though was still brimming with things too large for the VVA to pick up
and so I placed an ad in Craigslist. I’ve heard horror stories about the
website that it was crawling with unsavory types. I placed an ad that basically
said, Free! Get it Outta Here!, and posted
several pictures of my furniture. One of
the first and really the only viable contact was Ray from Trenton. He’s a grave
stone engraver. His small family was moving from a “1 ½ bedroom house” in
Trenton to a farmhouse and they needed furniture…. Lots of it! It was like
hitting the lottery for both of us. Ray cleaned me out of everything. Overall
he made four trips in his pick-up and he took everything but my couch.
I was thankful
that this process of moving out of Lambertville was so easy and that sentimental
items found new loving homes. It was
important to me to give things away to people who would appreciate them and
somehow cherish and use them as I had over the years. Life should always be so
good.
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