How Do You Balence Work and Family?
Having too much stuff can make you miserable. It sure seems like it's making my dad miserable. While I'm living with him, I'm helping him get rid of some of it. I don't know what exactly causes the misery. It could be that the mess starts to seem insurmountable. It could be that what you once saw as possibility is now just another piece of junk in a museum of forgotten efforts. It's fascinating. There's a continuous flow through the various places that my dad has stored all his various trinkets and projects. There's the garage, his office, and a crawlspace that expands under the entire main floor and only has roughly a four foot clearance.
The Garage is full of useful clutter. Tools and spare parts are spread out everywhere along with trash. It is a workshop. Three engine blocks take up the most floor space, each in various states of disrepair. Why have they been here so long? We haven't had vehicles for two of them in years. No progress has been made to get rid of them. They're like kidney stones. The best we can hope for is a relatively painless removal as we wonder how we got them in the first place. They wouldn't be so much of a problem if other miscellaneous objects had not piled up around them. Now the three have grown in to one towering mass in the center of the garage, choking off the space for inovative production. I have no idea how long it will take to be rid of these past mistakes.
The office is comprised of recites and business documents, most of which are unlabeled. It's really just a testament to how little you're legally required to file on your taxes.
I find the crawlspace most intriguing. Most of the problem in there is outdated technology and user manuals for said technology. There are a surprising number of power supplies. No one man should have all that power. Dispersed through this are various items you'd expect to see in any storage space: seasonal items, books, magazines, etc. In the midst of all that are pieces of my family's history: Letters, newspaper clippings, journals, and photos. They hide in between the baggage my dad has carried with him from one home to the next. I am here to bring them to the light! Why are these hidden? This is who my dad is! He's not his regurgitated Glen Beck and Ann Coulter quotes. He's not the misogynistic verbal fodder that he casts at his girlfriend. He's the man that used to take us wake boarding. He's an engineer. He's a craftsman. He's a loving son and father. Sure, he may be a racist now but he used to be a crack addict and that stopped. If there's one thing this crawlspace has shown me, it's a persons ability to change over a lifetime. If there is hope for this house, than there is hope for my dad. Although this mess seems insurmountable, it's amazing what has been accomplished already and there's plenty of more time to work on it.
as always, thank you for reading,
K-Wullums
J say of the day: If you never let go, it will grow soft in your hands and get sticky.