Yeesh.
They're running a Hoarders marathon this afternoon. I watched it while cleaning my room. I know I'm bad, but I don't think I'm THAT nuts. I think it's a matter of degree. Mostly I'm just lazy.
I should have that show running on a loop 24/7. It really makes you want to clear the crud. And when I see what those people go through, and the look in their eyes, like, glazed, vacant and crazy, it makes me reeeally want to avoid becoming like them.
It's the same look I saw in Dad's eyes when we tried cleaning his house and the barns. I'm talkin' BEFORE Alzheimer's. Some years back Dede and I took a week at Spring break and came down to Riverside to clean up Dad's barn. Stacey, Drew and Mindy also came to help. We tossed out major truckloads. We got it all organized and even made one room into a place for plumbing supplies and other stuff he needed to do maintenance on the farm. We worked our asses off while Dad resisted the whole time. When we were finished he seemed happy. But by Christmas all that work was completely undone. All the organizing we had done was still just as we had left it, but there was a ton of crap piled on top. When we cleaned everything out when the farm was sold, all the bins of pvc connectors were still on the shelves, unused.
Yep. He was a hoarder. Alzheimer's magnified it to an extreme level.
I think that show is providing a valuable public service. Many of us will be able to see ourselves in those people and their families. Since moving here I've been overwhelmed by my stuff, but I think I'm doing a pretty good job of clearing it out. My little mantra of "more out than in" really helps. Almost every week I take a carload of stuff to the thrift store. It has taken me a long time, which has been frustrating, but I'm starting to see progress.
Ok, back to it.
3 comments:
I'm addicted to that show. I spend the hour it's on with my jaw on the floor. I guess this really isn't the point, but how is it less trouble to put something in a trash can than to toss it on the floor and step over it for 10 years?? And the people who buy an extra house to get away from the house they've filled up... and then fill up the second house? And how on earth can you argue with the people trying to clean you up if you know that if you don't let them do it, you'll be evicted and/or lose you're kids?
I feel sorry for them--it's too bad anybody's crazy--but I feel sorrier for their families and neighbors.
I've been curtailing my tchotcke buying and that show has helped.
-dean
Those people who bought the extra house were paying $7,000 a month on 4 mortgages! How do they do that??? The threat of eviction or losing your kids doesn't sink in with someone who is that mentally ill. You really can see it on their faces. They are truly sick.
And yeah, the pain on the faces of their loved ones. Having been through it, although to a lesser degree, I can surely relate.
mollow- like mellow, only more drunk.
I really do know the difference between your and you're. My default fast-typing mode is contractions. Spell check doesn't fix a thing like that, either.
-dean
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