Dad's Birthday Gift

My siblings and I migrated often over the years.

Mom and Dad's place became the default residence in between apartments. None of us traveled light. We accumulated stuff. Their garage became our personal storage. We often left things behind with good intentions that it would be temporary. Not to mention all the stuff saved before we moved out for independent lives, once upon a time.

Out of sight, out of mind...years go by.

Now that we're all grown up (sort of) and settled, my parent's wanted to reclaim their garage. Over the past year my Dad has nagged me (and the other siblings, so he says) if we could please get our lifetime treasure horde out of his garage.

As a birthday gift to him this year, we decided to spend a whole day dedicated to cleaning out the garage and getting our old stuff out. He loved it! Areas of the garage floor were designated to each sibling to have their stuff put into piles. Once complete, the pile was to be taken home. All went about digging through and sorting boxes and bins. I soon heard over and over again...

"Dave's stuff !"

Within an hour, I had so much stacked, I needed to make floor space for others. I loaded up my car and made a quick run to my house and drop off. When I came back, my pile was even bigger than when I left it. It took loading up my car again along with Ted's car and Megan's car to get all my stuff out of Dad's garage.

Having so much to move only proves the following...

- My other siblings took away their stuff years ago with too much free time in the past.
- I was too busy working hard to pick up my stuff.
- My siblings are obsessed with material things and needed their stuff right away.
- I'm fine with a simple amish life and never needed the stuff I stashed away years ago.
- My siblings are cruel and heartless, quick to sever any ties with my parents.
- I like to leave behind items of nostalgia for them to remember me by.

Of course, my garage is packed. The only room for the stuff is in my home office/studio which is always a mess.

Below is my view now while sitting at my drawing table...


The view, if I want to stand up and watch the TV in the corner...


I still have more boxes to unload in my car!

Happy Birthday Dad. Your revenge is complete. Your patience living with all this junk over the years makes you a Saint. It's karma. 2008 has to be the year I organize and clear house.

There is some really cool stuff I found though that I forgot about!