LETTING SOMEONE ELSE LOVE IT: Parting With Beloved Items

Here it is, literally ready to go out the door.

Ever since my kids moved out, stuff seems to have moved in. Since my mom and I love yard sales and thrift stores, I'm always facing wonderful things to buy. Not just any things, but one-of-a-kind treasures that, if I don't buy them on the spot, I will never see the likes of them ever again. Yikes, that's a lot of pressure, and I usually buckle under it.

But recently I'm trying something new. I'm enjoying items for a period of time, but then I'm learning to pass them on to someone else who will love them just as much as I do.

This week a friend just spent the night to seek shelter from Hurricane Idalia. Then my son is coming home for a week in September and will be back again in October. My daughter will be here in October as well.  After that it's Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I want to make sure that each of my guests always has a nice guest room to stay in. And getting rid of clutter-albeit valuable, vintage clutter-is essential.

The hard part is emotionally parting with our beloved items. When we donate something, we often think of it as the end of the life of that object. It will be gone from our presence and we'll never see it again. But if we can realize that the object still lives on but is just making someone else happy somewhere, it's easier to part with things.

A great example is this cherished paper rack (a cheapie from Michaels that my mom gave me). I finished the top of it with vintage yardsticks that are local to the St. Petersburg, Florida area. One of them is from Jay's Fabric Center in Pasadena. My grandmother lived just a few blocks from there and was a frequent customer of theirs for decades. So it's kind of hard to part with this. But since I moved my crafts back into the garage, there just isn't room for it. I'm hoping the right person will stumble upon this at the Salvation Army, and perhaps their grandmother also shopped at Jay's Fabric Center!

It's really a win-win. I make room for things that matter most, like a proper guest room. And I am giving someone else the opportunity to love things as much as I do. And perhaps they'll do the same in a few years too. Imagine how happy we make so many people when we donate the things that we love!