update on getting my house in order

It is clear to me that the end is not in sight.

It is true - however - that there is Light at the end of the
Proverbial Tunnel.  For the furniture is in place and as far
as expenditures there are only a few blinds to purchase to
keep the sun at bay in the afternoon.

Yes - there are days when I truly believe that I will get my
house in order.


Yet it is my stuff that is holding me back.

Keeping me from the satisfaction of completing the Move.

You think I obsessed about hanging the ornaments on the
Christmas Tree?  At least Christmas Tree Ornaments have
worth - and they sparkle and are pretty.

I'm talking about my junk here.  My stuff.

The Stuff that I have collected through the last 25 years -
endless amounts of paper, presidential knick-nacks that
only a Real President would save for his Presidential Library.

But really - is there no end to it?


Tonight - however - I decided to move on.


And I really made progress.


How did I do that?


why by moving four stacks of stuff to the other
side of the room - where it will be waiting for me
to sort and put away in the morning


Yes folks - this is the ultimate in Obsessing.

Twenty-five years of  keeping absolutely
worthless stuff  and for what?


Even my granchildren  saw it for what it is.
I had emptied a box of stuff - precious only
to me - and invited them to look through it.
The older ones left disappointed - while the
four year old looked disgusted.  I said, 'David,
look at these miniature presidents '- always
important to me since my mother had given
them to me many years ago that she had
gotten at the grocery store every time she
bought so many groceries - 'we can play with
them and set them up to do things.'

And so David humored me - setting them up
and eventually - like Tom Sawyer painting the
fence - his slightly older brother was sucked
into it.

But I said - seeing my chance to get in good
with David always hard to do - 'David is in
charge of the Presidents.  You have to follow
his rules.'


And so feeling only slightly better about my stuff -
now I must finish the job - which is painstakingly
putting it all away - somewhere - for the final time.

Until eventually my daughters will say - 'Why didn't
Mom clear out some of this stuff before she...
left.

Now we have to deal with it.'
~~~

Many of the scraps of paper among my stuff contain
scribbled quotes - and these three are not among them.
But I think these are worthy of note:


Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.

                                                       ~Oscar Wilde


There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.

                                                      ~Goethe


but as i stood there looking at the stuff that represents
twenty-five years of my life - i found this one to be most
fitting:


You don't understand - I coulda had class.  I coulda been
a contender.   I coulda been somebody - instead of a bum -
which is what I am.

                                                  ~Marlon Brando/Terry Malloy
                                                    On the Waterfront (1954)








i really wish i had known Marlon Brando
he was a great actor and person i believe
in my heart i think we could have bonded