A Mountain of Stuff

Every increased possession loads us with new weariness. 

John Ruskin

A friend of mine sent me this quote a few months ago and I kept it thinking it would be great for a blog post sometime. Well, here we are in Vancouver where we are attempting to help Doug's parents move from their bungalow into a smaller apartment and every where we look there is stuff. Mountains of stuff. Six couches, six large living room chairs, twelve dining room chairs, at least 100 glasses and 100 plates. And, that's just a partial list of what is inside the house. Outside, in the yard, there must be 20 chairs and a half dozen tables.

There are things in this house that have not been used for 50 years, things that have been bought and never used, things that have no discernable purpose. The weight of all the things inside and outside this house is crushing.

After four solid days of work, we finally cleared out the garage enough that it could be used for a garage sale. But that, as you can imagine, is only a tiny section of what needs to be done. Every room in the house contains as much stuff as the garage and needs to be culled. Imagine my bemusement, astonishment, incredulity when I found them looking at sales flyers last night and earnestly discussing buying two new couches!

Gratuitous scenery shot to remind me of the real world