Stuff

It's all so strange, getting rid of stuff.

Tomorrow I am poised to get rid of all kinds of stuff. It's all the furniture and stuff that filled our home for the last nine years. Frank was living in a huge, rambling farmhouse in Franklin when we met in 2001. We had to pare down much of that, including the contents of a barn, when we moved in 2003. But with our 1860s, 12-room house in Machias, we couldn't fill it fast enough with the things we gathered together.

We were auction-goers. He had an eye for pocket watches, wall clocks, mantle clocks and, later, standing clocks. They all are wound with keys. I doubt that Frank ever owned any timepiece that used a battery. Me, I liked to leave an auction with little things that ended up on shelves. That, and globes. I have at least 14 big-sized globes.

Much of our stuff is going in our estate sale, set for Saturday and Sunday. Some things are simply not being sold, and those will travel with me to my pending new home in Lubec. But very strangely, I am okay with most of our stuff walking out the door -- and likely mostly to strangers.

Having a 12-room house filled with furniture and things that we enjoyed finding and bringing home together  -- those are the memories that I'll take with me. The stuff can go to others.