It’s so easy to procrastinate when it comes to sorting and getting rid of stuff, but Dr. Phil has gotten me started.
I have to say, I seldom watch “Dr. Phil,” but I just happened to catch a show recently where an older couple had married and combined both households of stuff into one single home they had purchased together. They never got around to unpacking and were now living in a home where the only usable space they had is one chair each at the kitchen counter and a space for each to sleep.
Their hope was that Dr. Phil could help them declutter so that they could pursue their dream of traveling the USA in a motor home.
What caught my attention was how Dr. Phil illustrated to the husband just how little time he had left on this earth. Dr. Phil had marked off the years of life on a long, white paper ruler placed on the stage floor and asked the man to stand at No. 73, his current age, with 78, the longevity of a male in the U.S., as the end of the ruler.
When the man looked back, and then forward, he could visibly see he’d better act and get that motor home!
I’ve always known I’m best as a visual learner. That white ruler got my attention! With my 79th birthday coming up in August, I then and there made a plan to sort through every cupboard, drawer and closet in my house and get rid of stuff!
The bonus of it all is that I’m finding treasures I had forgotten I’d packed away.
My favorite find so far is an audiocassette recording of the 1964 State High School Basketball Tournament final game between Luverne and Rochester.
It was so much fun to listen to the tape. I watched that game in March of 1964 with my parents on their farm near Redwood Falls. I was about to graduate from college that spring and had already signed a contract with the Luverne School District to teach German and English beginning in the fall, so I was getting a preview of a select group of future students.
As my whole family cheered for Luverne, I kept wondering which of the players might enter my classroom in the fall.
When that first day of school arrived in September, in walked several of the 1964 state champs including Del Jessen, Scott Creeger, Curt Laudon, Tom Kozney, as well as the other great students of that Class of ’65.
But back to the audiocassette tape. Apparently my late husband Roger (Dubber) Spease recorded the game when it was replayed for the 100th anniversary of the school. It had been rebroadcast for that occasion and included advertising by some business sponsors back then including Schoon Motors, Blue Mound Inn, Cook’s Clothing, Country Kitchen, Bot Drug, to name a few. ... I’d forgotten there was a Hardee’s in Luverne.
I’m not saying that all my progress in cleaning out has been as enjoyable as this one find, but who knows what’s in all that stuff!
So far, junk: 98, treasure: 2.