SWEDISH DEATH CLEANING

 I have been hearing about a new series called The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. It is based on the book of the same name. I haven’t read it or watched the series yet, but I have been doing this for some time.

It may sound depressing, but the idea is that those of us of a “certain age” (Baby Boomers) are closer to the end of our lives than the beginning. Through the years, we have accumulated lots of stuff. In addition, many of us have lived in our homes for a long time (in our case, thirty-six years). Also, some of us (raises hand) have emotional attachment to our “stuff.”

However, realistically, we don’t want to leave the disposition of our “treasures” to those left behind. Besides, we want those items we treasure to go to those who will appreciate them.

SO, several months ago, I was looking at all of our small musical instruments. We used to play most of them, but they were now mostly decorative. Instruments need to be played in order to remain at their best.

We discussed it and decided we needed to find a home for them where they would be used and enjoyed. A young lady we have known since she was very young is an award-winning composer. We asked her to come to our house, and we offered them to her. (This photo shows only some of them.) We loaded them into her car, and she said it felt like Christmas. She was definitely the right person to have them. She will use and enjoy them.

Waiting in line for Soarin’ Over California at Disney’s California Adventure, we met a father and son. The little boy told us ALL about WWII and the attack on Pearl Harbor. His eyes lit up, and he was so excited telling us about it. (Can you say “precocious”?)

As we left the ride, I reminded Larry about the Veteran’s Day we spent at the Arizona Memorial about ten years ago. Five of the surviving Arizona sailors were there. They had written a book about their experiences. (Only one now remains.) All of them signed the book and also gave us sheets with their photos and biographies. (They signed those as well.)

“I know where the Arizona book needs to go.”

Larry agreed.

We ran into the father and son a little later and told them about the book. He said he’d would send their mailing address so we could mail them the book. When we got home, we found the Arizona book and also a coffee table book about Honolulu. It had articles on the Arizona and on the Punch Bowl Cemetery.

They went into the mail, and we received a photo when they arrived.

When Larry worked at Universal City in 1997, for a year before we moved to Osaka to build the Universal Studios Japan theme park, they held quite a few cast member only sales. They usually closed out discontinued merchandise and other materials at huge savings.

At one, he bought an original cell from the cartoon The Little Engine That Could. He was able to get a background with it, too. When we got to Japan, we discovered our Japanese grandson was CRAZY about trains. At Christmas when we came back to California, we retrieved the cell and took it back with us for his Christmas gift.

At another sale, Larry had purchased a portfolio of signed and numbered dinosaur prints in a presentation folio. He had planned to hang them in his office at the job site. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to put them. So, they spent our stay under our bed.

When we got back home, they went behind his armoire, where they remained for twenty-two years. We asked if the kids would like to have them, and their dad said they would. So, we packed them up to send. We also found a book on how to fold origami dinosaurs and added it.

They arrived today. The mother sent us this note:

Hello! Thank you and Larry for the really fun dinosaur drawings and origami book! We went to our local science museum yesterday and saw their new dinosaur exhibit, so your incredibly kind gift had some especially good timing! We’ll have to checkout some dinosaur books next time we go to the library! Thanks again!

This is exactly what we had hoped would happen!

Yesterday, we had lunch at a local restaurant we enjoy. I had noticed before that they used odd cups, saucers, and luncheon plates to serve the food. I had a very large collection of odd cups, saucers, and plates. I’d used them for ladies’ luncheons, showers, etc. At one time, I had over three dozen of each. I don’t host those kinds of events anymore, and I haven’t used them for years. I kept about a third of my collection, but we boxed up about two thirds. We delivered them this morning, and the owners were delighted to get them. I look forward to eating a meal there someday soon served on my china.

Of course, we have just scratched the surface, but it feels good to have found homes for these items with people who will appreciate them.