Nonattachment

One of the many chores that we did over the weekend, which was in fact mostly chore-oriented in case that wasn't obvious from other posts about it, was to drop a load of things we do not need off at the Goodwill.

I both love and hate giving things to Goodwill. On the one hand, I find it very freeing to let go of what I no longer need, of material stuff that longer serves me. And what a bonus that by doing that, other people can get things for cheap, and a third-party can serve the poor in the process. It's all good. On the other hand, what if you end up needing it again someday? Then what?

The load we dropped of on Sunday included:

• an old fan
• six or seven blankets, most of which were old and very worn and a couple of which were new but made of that poly fiber stuff that makes your skin crawl when you touch it
• the stuffed animal turtle that our friend Greg won at the county fair we went to for my birthday last year and then gave to me
• an old suitcase of Eric's that was referred to as "the dog" because the handle had broken off and been replaced by a leash. Eric found that giving it dog commands was effective at increasing its obedience and could be seen quietly shouting "Heel! Heel!" at the suitcase when it was falling over as he tried to lead it down the airport corridor.
• some flower pots that I picked up for free at a moving sale and that we determined were simply too hideous to keep around

See? None of this is stuff that I will ever ever need again. Except for maybe the blankets. You never know when you will need a ratty old blanket to wrap up an injured, bleeding animal or to pad something fragile in transport. But for now, the extra closet space is worth it.