LJ Idol Season 11: Boondoggle
My Bubby collected little glass figurines that she kept in her curio. Elephants, flamingos, little tea cups, she had it all. She was also fond of ornate lipstick cases that she carried her red lipstick in. I swore when I grew up, I was going to be just like her and carry my lipstick around just like her just so I could have pretty cases. She had these two gigantic framed needleworks of fairy tale scenes elegantly framed that she adored. She had an old fashioned record player with a radio that she loved dearly that she always had oldies music or classical music playing softly in the background no matter if she was alone or with company. And let's not forget her collection of hair scarfs for nighttime to cover her hair so that she did not ruin her perm.
When she passed away in 2006, my mom, my two aunts, and I went to her nursing room to clean out the room. My mom decided to keep the curio with the figurines; she figured it would go nicely in our living room (it did) and may be worth something one day. As I don't wear lipstick, I never did have a need for those elegant cases that I loved so dearly as a child. The needlework, no one wanted but my mom took out because she couldn't bear to part with it. But who needs an old record player when no one even owns a record? Sadly we donated it, along with her beloved handkerchiefs, lipstick cases, and other collectables. My mom and aunts fought it out over her jewelry; all I wanted was her photo albums (one that to this day I'm not sure which of my family members has) which no one wanted as there was no value to them.
As we sat there cleaning that day, all we could talk about is how sad it is that you spend your life collecting and buying items, only for it one day to be discarded after you've passed away because someone else did not see the value in what you had.
....
My mom was the type of person who counted on her collection being worth something one day. Her Avon statues that she got in the 70's when she was an Avon saleslady? She swore they would be valuable one day and that people would want them. Same with the figurines she took from my grandmother's curio. She was also convinced that McDonalds' toys of the 90's would be collectors items and make her tons of money. To this day, I have case full of unwrapped action figures that are sitting in my spare closet that I can't imagine are worth the time to figure how much they are worth. Maybe one day.
Several weeks ago, I sat down at my father in law's house and began sorting through everything I had packed up of my mom's (and Bubby's) stuff and began weeding through what was still worth keeping and what to get rid of. As a packrat myself, it's hard to get rid of anything but it was time to begin making a dent (and to make room for things we'll need to store in the future). I stared at the old picture frame with the needlework and I texted my aunt (who texted my other aunt) and no one still found value in that needlework. "Sell it on Ebay," my one aunt replied. Who would even want it, I wondered, but yet oddly I can't seem to part with it. So they they continue to sit, leaning against my husband's broken pool table. I then began digging through the Avon figurines and all of the figurines from the curio (which the curio itself got donated after my mother passed away back in 2016). Out of curiousity, I began searching Ebay if there was any worth to them at all like my mother was so convinced were worth something. Turns out, in 2020, there's really not much of a value placed on Avon figurines. Sadly I created a donation box and put it all for donation minus a few that stuck out to me as being cute.
All that time and money that my mom and Bubby put into collections? Donated because I have no room or need for them and no one in my family wanted them and all I could think about in my head was the conversation we had back in 2006. Nothing you buy can go with you to the grave, I pondered, as I put things into boxes for donations.
...
The first time my cousin came over to my apartment, she commented, "wow, you guys have a lot of collections going on!" It's true, we have bookshelves filled with old books, retro video games and systems (you name it, my husband probably owns it), Funko Pops, Amiibos, figurines. Under our bed, you'll find my old Barbie collection and collection of Baby Sitter Club books. I have boxes of jewelry that I've acquired from my mom, my Bubby, and my own collection. Notes galore from middle school and high school friends, birthday cards, photo albums, stuffed animals from childhood, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers gear, we have it all. We are a sucker for a good collection and we're both the kind of people that if we start collecting something, we go all in (i.e. our trip to Disney, we spend a good amount of our trip collecting and trading pins - which now sit in cups that are never touched).
As I sit here 28 weeks pregnant, staring around my living room at all of our collections, I can't help but wonder about what my one day grown up son (and any other future children we may have) will decide is valuable and worth keeping and what will he say isn't worth it, or doesn't need. What will he end up doing with all of our collections that we have spent years and money on? What of his own things will he one day not want anymore that he will have loved so much? I want to tell him one day to keep everything, everything of ours has value and you'll never know when you need something or want to reminisce. I can't force him to do that; just like I couldn't keep everything of my mom's or Bubby's and that is a strange feeling to have to come to terms with that my child is going to look through my things and judge their value, just as I did to my mother and Bubby.
When she passed away in 2006, my mom, my two aunts, and I went to her nursing room to clean out the room. My mom decided to keep the curio with the figurines; she figured it would go nicely in our living room (it did) and may be worth something one day. As I don't wear lipstick, I never did have a need for those elegant cases that I loved so dearly as a child. The needlework, no one wanted but my mom took out because she couldn't bear to part with it. But who needs an old record player when no one even owns a record? Sadly we donated it, along with her beloved handkerchiefs, lipstick cases, and other collectables. My mom and aunts fought it out over her jewelry; all I wanted was her photo albums (one that to this day I'm not sure which of my family members has) which no one wanted as there was no value to them.
As we sat there cleaning that day, all we could talk about is how sad it is that you spend your life collecting and buying items, only for it one day to be discarded after you've passed away because someone else did not see the value in what you had.
....
My mom was the type of person who counted on her collection being worth something one day. Her Avon statues that she got in the 70's when she was an Avon saleslady? She swore they would be valuable one day and that people would want them. Same with the figurines she took from my grandmother's curio. She was also convinced that McDonalds' toys of the 90's would be collectors items and make her tons of money. To this day, I have case full of unwrapped action figures that are sitting in my spare closet that I can't imagine are worth the time to figure how much they are worth. Maybe one day.
Several weeks ago, I sat down at my father in law's house and began sorting through everything I had packed up of my mom's (and Bubby's) stuff and began weeding through what was still worth keeping and what to get rid of. As a packrat myself, it's hard to get rid of anything but it was time to begin making a dent (and to make room for things we'll need to store in the future). I stared at the old picture frame with the needlework and I texted my aunt (who texted my other aunt) and no one still found value in that needlework. "Sell it on Ebay," my one aunt replied. Who would even want it, I wondered, but yet oddly I can't seem to part with it. So they they continue to sit, leaning against my husband's broken pool table. I then began digging through the Avon figurines and all of the figurines from the curio (which the curio itself got donated after my mother passed away back in 2016). Out of curiousity, I began searching Ebay if there was any worth to them at all like my mother was so convinced were worth something. Turns out, in 2020, there's really not much of a value placed on Avon figurines. Sadly I created a donation box and put it all for donation minus a few that stuck out to me as being cute.
All that time and money that my mom and Bubby put into collections? Donated because I have no room or need for them and no one in my family wanted them and all I could think about in my head was the conversation we had back in 2006. Nothing you buy can go with you to the grave, I pondered, as I put things into boxes for donations.
...
The first time my cousin came over to my apartment, she commented, "wow, you guys have a lot of collections going on!" It's true, we have bookshelves filled with old books, retro video games and systems (you name it, my husband probably owns it), Funko Pops, Amiibos, figurines. Under our bed, you'll find my old Barbie collection and collection of Baby Sitter Club books. I have boxes of jewelry that I've acquired from my mom, my Bubby, and my own collection. Notes galore from middle school and high school friends, birthday cards, photo albums, stuffed animals from childhood, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers gear, we have it all. We are a sucker for a good collection and we're both the kind of people that if we start collecting something, we go all in (i.e. our trip to Disney, we spend a good amount of our trip collecting and trading pins - which now sit in cups that are never touched).
As I sit here 28 weeks pregnant, staring around my living room at all of our collections, I can't help but wonder about what my one day grown up son (and any other future children we may have) will decide is valuable and worth keeping and what will he say isn't worth it, or doesn't need. What will he end up doing with all of our collections that we have spent years and money on? What of his own things will he one day not want anymore that he will have loved so much? I want to tell him one day to keep everything, everything of ours has value and you'll never know when you need something or want to reminisce. I can't force him to do that; just like I couldn't keep everything of my mom's or Bubby's and that is a strange feeling to have to come to terms with that my child is going to look through my things and judge their value, just as I did to my mother and Bubby.