Whittling Away with Dick Brooks - Life Is Full

I’ve had time to realize that I have a very full life.  It might be because it contains so many things that are also full.  For example, the kitchen junk drawer is full I went looking for a battery for the smoke alarm and surprisingly found it in the drawer in a short period of time then spent ten minutes rearranging the stuff in the drawer so that I could get it shut again. My closet is another example of how full my life is.  I’m sure that it is slightly beyond capacity since I think that a crow bar would be necessary to add another garment.  I find it extremely hard to part with older items of clothing.  By the time they are worn out and full of holes, they are full of memories.  The older I get the more I appreciate the softness of well worn cloth and the way it remembers your body bulges and bumps.  This explains the crowded condition of my closet.  The problem of not wanting to throw any article of clothing out is compounded by the thriftiness of the average senior citizen.  I love thrift shops and while I would never order that shirt I liked in the L.L. Bean catalog that cost $50, I can’t pass it up when I see it in the thrift store for $2.  I could get rid of the stuff that really doesn’t fit me anymore but my size is a flexible kind of thing, the stuff that’s too big for me might not be after Girl Scout cookie season and the stuff that’s too small might be just right after I get done with the senior shrink.  I could donate it but I’m not sure how welcome my bell bottoms and leisure suit would be at the Salvation Army clothing store.   The Queen’s closet is neat, tidy and organized but she rotates her outfits seasonally and stores last season’s clothes in the cellar which explains why the cellar also is full.  The only car I could possibly get into the garage would be one of the matchbox variety.  It is full of possibilities and projects.  Garden tools, lawn tractor, snow blower, antique bath tub, spare kitchen table, garbage pails, bird food do eat up available space quickly and makes me ponder about whither or not stuff is capable of breeding on its own and creating more of its own kind.  I swear I’ve never seen some of this stuff and am beginning to suspect that the neighbors are smuggling stuff in that they just can’t throw away so they just add it to ours so they’ll know where it is if they ever need it.  They don’t have to worry about it since they know that we never throw anything away.  It is a good plan and I may try it myself with a couple of neighbors that I know have trouble disposing of stuff.  My desk also runneth over.  A stack of soon to be read books, all the stuff that goes with the computer, printer, paper, CDs of programs that I don’t know how to use or run but are too good to throw away.  Coffee cans full of pencils and pens, some of which actually work, complete the décor.  I’m typing this in my recliner on my laptop because there isn’t enough exposed desk top area to accommodate the computer but I guess that may be one of the reasons the laptop was invented in the first place. Telly, my trusty canine companion, is snoozing on his fluffy bed while I’m typing this.  His toy basket is next to his bed.  It also is full.  Sometimes life overflows the house and makes it into a home.

Thought for the week—The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Until next week, may you and yours be happy and well.

Whittle12124@yahoo.com