We all see things through our own lenses. The lenses were crafted and ground by all the experiences we've had... every thought, word and action... of our own and those around us.
I know that most or all of you can not remember living during the time of the Great Depression (history not emotional :), I can remember rationing, we could afford the liver. I remember my brother and I sitting on a plastic pouch to warm the contents and then kneading the pouch to mix the ingredients which turned into margarine. As a youngster I saw my mom use everything but the sqwack of the chicken she had just butchered. (Even as a child I had my limits. I decided at a very young age that I would NOT be learning how to cut the head off a chicken-no matter how hungry I was.) I used to think eating fried chicken feet (not legs- feet) was fun and mighty tasty... yikes. And how about those pickled pig's feet!
We never threw anything away. It might come in handy. I remember excitement when the neighbor lady brought us a bag of clothes... even though she only had boys. As a result I never threw anything away-in case it might come in handy. I stored the baby bed, high chair, baby clothes, etc. just in cast my children would be delighted to have them for their babies. You guessed it. They politely turned up their noses as these scruffy, used items.
For a time I rattled around with: they don't get it, they don't know what it's like to be poor, they don't get the value of saving, they have to have all new... on and on. Well, in 2002 I decided I needed to clean (!) house. If no one in the family needed or wanted all this "stuff," I needed to find another place for it.
It was so hard at first. It felt like I was giving away memories, that if I gave that baby bed away, I would lose the memory of Paulette laughing and jumping up and down hanging on to that bedrail in the early morning. I thought I'd lose the memory of Jimmy on elbows and knees rocking back and forth, banging his little toddler head against the headboard as he put himself to sleep. (I worried about the article I read that head bangers grew up to be murders... I guess I can throw that out too.)
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