Yamaha Rage

Our Accumulated ‘stuff’ And Why We Never Let It Go

It seems like we manage to somehow collect many objects as we go through life. Some of them are valuable and should be kept while others might not be so valued or don’t even bring with them many good memories but we just can’t get rid of them, for some reason. Our accumulated ‘stuff’ and why we never let it go — such as that Yamaha acoustic guitar we spent money on long ago — can be fascinating to study.

For example, maybe that guitar was bought during our ‘artistic’ phase when we thought we were going to be the next Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell. At any rate, the chances are good that we probably never found the time to learn to play anything by either of those two artists. Or maybe we gave it a whirl and found that carrying around a guitar just wasn’t all it was cracked up to be at the music store.

Still, an acoustic guitar can be a cool thing to have laying around the house if only for the curiosity value, and it just may manage to be with us when we finally have to settle accounts for good. However, how many people are going around with one or two wet dry vacuums taking up space in a garage or basement? It’s fairly certain that somebody, somewhere has these items laying around.

Maybe the vacuum was going to be used to finally get a handle on the garage and the water leakage that sometimes resulted because we just never got around to applying new seals to the bottom of the garage door. At any rate, the days when we wanted to use such a powerful vacuum are probably now long gone and receding rapidly in the rearview mirror that we call our past life.

Being reasonable, it’s probably the fact that we hold on to a lot of stuff because it tends to bring back fond memories, even if that stuff we’re holding onto includes a busted tennis racket. Maybe it got that way because we were trying to emulate John McEnroe in his heyday, though it’s hard to see how THAT could bring back pleasant memories of tennis games gone by.

And when it comes to items like children’s furniture, why we might still be holding onto cherry baby furniture — which we bought when little Sarah was newly arrived but which hasn’t been used in 25 years — can be a real mystery. For sure, it would seem that baby furniture might better belong in a garage sale or in some other family’s home that could really use it.

Maybe our accumulated ‘stuff’ and why we never let it go is one of life’s great mysteries. Getting rid of it can be wrenching and frustrating at the same time and holding onto it can be just as frustrating and annoying while also being wrenching. Maybe we also need some of this stuff to keep our memories fresh, even after we’ve started drawing Social Security. It’s a reason, at least.

2006 Yamaha Rs Rage Cold Start