Done and Dusty

‘A loved one wishes to inherit nice things from you. Not all things from you - Margareta Magnusson

I just read The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson.  It sounds slightly morbid, but it was a great book.  Magnusson offers a practical approach to putting a home in order before someone else has to do it for you. Watching sellers struggle with decades of accumulated belongings, this is something I relate to. Personally, I don’t get attached.  I firmly believe that if an item is no longer useful, it should be donated, sold or tossed. Unfortunately I married a pack rat. 

We have a vintage record player cabinet we got from my husband's aunt when she was downsizing. It no longer functions, just takes up space like a large paperweight.   I tried to get rid of it the last time we moved, but was denied so it has been collecting dust for the past 6 years in various places in our home. Apparently even when an item serves no purpose it must be tethered to us for eternity if it came from a family member.

There was a glimmer of hope after I organized our hall closet recently resulting in an extra shoe bench.  I wasn’t sure what to do with it then out of nowhere my husband suggested we put it downstairs where the record player is and get rid of the record player.  Wait, WHAT?!!!! Did he really suggest that we get rid of something?  I wanted to jump for joy but played it cool.   The next day I moved the record player to the unfinished part of the basement and put the shoe bench in its place. 

Unfortunately, the first words out of his mouth when he came home from work had to do with that record player.  “Could I please NOT get rid of it yet? And, his tone becoming desperate, ‘Promise me you won't get rid of it?”  I reminded him that getting rid of it had been his idea, but of course we should keep it.  I’m thinking of naming it (Dusty seems fitting) since it has been with us longer than the dog and is destined to be a fixture in our home until the day we die and our children will heave it into a dumpster along with all the other 'family heirlooms' he can’t part with.  For that I apologize in advance to them.