ASSAULT ON THE GARAGE

The wife and I have been making a renewed effort to clean out the garage and trash, give away or store in the attic/crawl space (more like a walk space) over the garage items that have been out there since we moved in 21 months ago.

It has been hard on us because be have traveled a good bit because of my jobs and lived overseas many years. Seven years in Israel and two years in Germany for the two of us together and a couple of short tours for me alone in Vietnam and Kuwait. The hard part is that all these items we are trying to get rid of have memories attached to them.

So you might guess, most of the stuff has gone into the attic maybe to be seen again once or twice or maybe never again in our lifetime. I think our grandsons will be grateful when we finally do finish the review and storage or ditch process since they are the ones climbing the ladder and placing the storage boxes.

We have found the hard way that once you get to a new place you tend to, after a while, adopt the local style of home decoration which looks great while there. However, once you return to the States, Alabama in our case, the Asian,  Middle Eastern, German or whatever, does not go well with the stuff you have had in storage. So, before long the foreign stuff tends to go into storage containers, closets, drawers or on the garage or basement shelves with a big invisible question mark stamped on them.

The wife and I often try to remember where in the Hell did we put all the stuff we have/had. I probably have stored in the attic about 30 wall hangings/photos/paintings, mostly in professional frames we had done in East Jerusalem. Oh well, after we are gone maybe the kids can make ten or twenty dollars in a yard sale.

I am proud to say that we are down to about ten storage containers/totes that need to reviewed and dispensed with. One or two more weekends should do it. I can't wait to be able to go to the freezer in the garage without fear for my life and limbs.

Not buying more "stuff" will be one of the few benefits of  growing too old to do more overseas tours.
I do miss the travel and living in different cultural environments, even with all the hassle involved.