Treasures vs. Junk

As many of you know, my dad passed away February 8, 2011.  My dad was a builder for most of his life.  He built many homes around the Muskegon area and later in life he worked for RHJ Management.  Dad loved to work with tinker in his workshops - he had one in the basement and one in his garage.  The workshops were full of tools - screwdrivers, hammers, saws, wrenches, etc.  Lots of tools.  He also accumulated a collection of nuts, bolts, nails and a bunch of treasures.  I'm pretty sure the "treasures" were things he was saving because they might come in handy some day.

Well, after dad died, mom commenced to clean out the workshops and of course welcomed any help offered.  We (my nephews, son & husband) spent time clearing and hauling.  The final steps were to fill a huge dumpster with objects we deemed not worth keeping.  Then we had a yard sale and basically gave away some of dads tools.  Finally we sorted all the steel (as in nails, screws, lawn mower blades, etc) and loaded them into mom's van.  We hauled all this stuff to the Rag & Metal recycle facility where mom earned a whopping $46.  The last step was a woman purchased the rest of dad's treasures and she cleared out the garage workshop!

Clearing and sorting dad's stuff has been an eyeopener for me.  I have a sewing room, which I call The Cave, full of my treasures.  I spent several hours in there tonight sorting and clearing.  The room is still full of precious material, patterns, tools, thread, etc. that are too important to me to just throw away.  Unfortunately I know that my children do not view my prize accumulations as precious and will probably toss everything into a dumpster when my day comes.

I guess, in the meantime, I should spend a lot of time in the cave creating things such as quilts, clothes, purses, etc that my children might view as heirlooms.....

Hmmmm, I doubt they will but at least I will have fun.

Rest in Peace dad!