Jane's House

A neighbor from the next street stopped by yesterday to tell me that she and her husband were selling their home here and moving to an apartment in downtown Houston. I was surprised because they'd lived here for nearly 25 years, and Jane's house was always fixed up like a doll-house... filled with all her collections. Everything from dolls and vintage toys to china sets and Victorian lamps. Like me, Jane worked in an antique shop for a number of years, so it was very easy to add to her collections. When you work in one of those shops, you don't necessarily need money--- most of the time, you end up trading merchandise with other dealers.

So now Jane and her husband have rented a downtown apartment--- not wanting to buy until they're sure just where they want to be. Their furniture is already moved out of their two-story house here, and some of her treasures are in the new apartment. Jane asked me if I knew anyone who would want to come and look at her collections before she goes ahead and has a moving sale. I told her that I was still in touch with some of the dealers at the antique shop, and I did call them and tell them it would be worth their time to come have a look-see at what Jane is selling.

I went up to Jane's house for a look-see myself.... and it was kind of sad. All those years collecting all that stuff, and now she's stressing-out over what to keep, what to sell, what to save for her children and grandchildren. I suggested to her that she ask her children and grandchildren now to come and take what they wanted. Keeping it in storage for them seems pointless to me-- she'll have to pay for the storage fee, first of all, and that's a waste of money. And really, how does she know exactly what her children and grandchildren would like to have? Wouldn't it be better for her, and fun for them, if they could chose their own keepsakes now?

It just amazes me at how much stuff we can collect. We're all guilty of the collecting bug, some more than others. I think it either depends on how much space we have, or how much space we're willing to give up. Because if you collect on a grand scale, then you're leaving precious little space for living and giving up most of your space for whatever treasures you hold most dear. And if you're moving from a big house to a smaller apartment, then you'd be like Jane-- having to decide what to keep, what to make room for, what you need to either sell or give away.

And those treasures are only treasures in your eyes. That's what Jane is afraid of.... asking her children and grandchildren to come pick what they want and hearing them tell her that they don't want "any of that old stuff."

When I went up to Jane's house, I was determined not to buy anything. After all, we just re-arrange practically everything in this house last year when my husband's mom passed away and we had things shipped down here from her home. And my rule is "If one thing comes in, then one thing has to go out."

Jane has a huge collection of china. Entire sets, partial sets, all patterns, all designs. She had some Noritake bowls (both soup size and fruit size) that were just too beautiful and too vintage. There were 5 of the larger size, and 8 of the smaller size. And she also had the matching platter. Forgive me. I couldn't resist. I bought them. After I found room for them in the dining room buffet, I stood there remembering my "one in/one out" rule.

I walked into the kitchen and threw away a bag of carrots. They were no longer fresh because I had forgotten to use them. Plus, there were about 32 carrots in the bag, so I figure I'm ahead of the game on my "one in/one out" rule.