Trickle Down

Had an interesting conversation with a potential client today.

He called us to remove belongings of a recently deceased loved one from an assisted living facility.  While I made an assessment, he told me the story of the multiple downsizing activities of two family members leading up to this point.

He and his wife had been called upon to help make these moves since the ailing individuals were not capable of doing so.  In all, if I understood correctly, there were a total of four moves for two people within a short period of time.  Each time, a large portion of the possession load needed to be jettisoned.  I was being called to deal with the last of it.

The gentleman who called was probably in his sixties and although he appeared exhausted from the ordeal, he also seemed a bit relieved that the mental and physical load could be cast off...finally.  He currently runs his own business and expressed thanks that his capable staff has been able to handle the work load for him while he has been attending to current matters.  He's lucky indeed.  Many small business owners work with few employees and those employed at a job often don't have the ability to take large blocks of time off to deal with someone else's things.  The effect of "stuff" can be the severe disruption of someone else's life.

One of the things we never think about is how our belongings will affect those who may be charged with taking care of us or settling our affairs later in life.  Consumerism is a deeply personal affair.  We buy what we want when we want it.  What we often ignore is that our inanimate possessions can easily outlast us.  So what then?

I have one daughter.  The last thing I want is for her to have to deal with a lot of "dad's junk" when I'm gone.  I may love my possessions, but with a very few exceptions, I doubt she will feel the same.  Last on her list of enjoyable activities will be trying to figure out what to do with it all.  My goal is to make sure there's very little for her to monkey with.  Just one more reason to purge....