My husband managed to break off our driver's side car door handle, (for the second time--this most recent handle was actually a junkyard pick to replace the first one), so now we have to crank down the window and open the door by pulling on the outside handle. Our ice scraper also bit the dust this week, after several years of hardy service clearing off very iced-over windows during some harsh Idaho winters. And the Gilmore Girls dvd collection I inherited has proven to have severe scratches on half the disks, rendering them useless.
It stinks when things break down, especially the everyday ones we tend to take for granted. Like a car door's inner handle. Personally, I think they were just poorly made, since I have heard of several other Toyota Corolla owners having to replace a few door handles of their own over the course of the car's life. I think it's just a problem with older models, like models from 1999 or older...or my husband's tendency to be a bit rough on things.
My sister was like that, too. I distinctly remember lending her a picture book of mine, only to have it returned to me with the cover bent halfway over on itself. Actually, I think I rediscovered it when she was cleaning her room one day and had pulled out a large pile of stuff from under her bed. I never liked lending her my things after that. Her cd collection is completely scratched up--she loved listening to music in the car, but it's not always possible to put a cd back in its case when you're supposed to have two hands on the steering wheel. Thus most of her music collection is scratched beyond recognition.
And that's why it doesn't surprise me that her Gilmore Girls dvds are in such bad shape. It's funny how the things she did used to make me so mad--they still do sometimes. I guess it's my way of staying connected to her. When people die we tend to idealize them and forget all their bad parts (a similar phenomenon occurs when we are dating). My sister is an amazing person, but I like to keep my memories real, including the few irritating parts.
Perhaps I should simply lower my expectations for how my things will be treated from now on. I do have a toddler, and everyone knows that kids are often the reason we "can't have nice things." Tongue in cheek, but it's based in reality. Wasn't Thoreau always admonishing humanity to "Simplify, simplify"? If I have no earthly possessions, I can't get upset about them being ruined.
Still, it is human nature to grow attached to certain things during our life. Why else do we keep the old dried flower, the restaurant receipt, favorite shoes or junior high track medal? I used to hate going through all the things I had acquired when I was younger; now that I've had to pack, move and unpack my things so many times, I relish the opportunities to downsize. The process itself is still not fun--you are throwing away pieces of yourself when you sort through all that--but the end result is liberation.
The best way to save your possessions is to think of a time or period in your life that they represent. Sure, it's cute to see your childish kindergarten scrawls on yellowed paper, but do you really need to keep every scrap of paper you ever brought home that year? I think two or three papers per year is sufficient, and later, with more schoolwork, two to three samples per subject. You know, a spelling test, a page of math homework and an art project or two.
Now that computers are everywhere, it gets even easier to store past work--essays are all typed up and saved to a hard drive. There's also a computer's scanning capabilities. Heck, it would be wise to scan all the paper memories in case of a fire.
I'm just holding my breath that nothing else breaks this week. Sure, it can be a character-building opportunity, but I have had enough of that for a while, thank you.
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