A journey into cleaning up a big pile of ......hoard
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'They Can't Take That Away' I used to love that old song with Fred Astaire, and the dancing. Now it means something else. I call them to remove my remnants, but then I wonder, should I put those items in the box? The words hum in my ears........They can't take that away....if I don't put it out for them. But they can take that away. And they do. Every week. Today I tried to collect more.
But I am stopped by this jacket. It is not torn or ripped - making it harder to let go. It has the added problem....it was loaned to me by my hoarder mother. Yes, I may have a professional organizer sister, but I am the messy sheep of the family, genetic descendent of my mother, the Queen Bee Hoarder. (Sorry about mixing the animal allusions)
My mother, who loaned me this jacket, probably doesn't recall she loaned it to me. Not because she can't remember - thank god she has her faculties! In fact, those faculties are the most important thing she possesses! No, she probably doesn't recall - because she has 500 other jackets in the hoarding heaven she calls home.
Can I donate this and not tell her? Is it the right thing to do? The moral dilemma of this paralyzes me for a moment. Forget my family's troubles, all the troubles of my friends, forget the world's troubles. This hideous out of style jacket has focused my attention on the complete unimportance of this issue. I am paralyzed and...... embarrassed. And in one instant, I grasp how hard it must be to quit smoking, or drugs or alcohol.
Because I am hooked on all this stuff - and the drama that surrounds it. I am immersed in the horror that is hoarding. No matter what the nice folks from the charities remove from in front of my house, next to my driveway, they can't take that away.....only I can give it away.
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Janet S. Tiger 858-736-6315
JanetSTigerMonologueMania.blogspot.com
JanetSTigerMonologueMania.blogspot.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
Love the line "... hideous out-of-style jacket".
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