Boxes

There are certainly a lot of people in my area (Midwest) who have hit hard times in the current economy. Jobs are scaled back or disappear altogether. This week makes one year since I’ve lost my own job. I’ve put out scores of resumes and gone on interviews and used temp services and head hunters. In fact, I’m going to a different temp service today to do the whole “spend hours filling out paperwork” bit.

I have to say that no matter what, I still feel lucky and blessed because I have my family and my home with all the contents of it. Some people aren’t so lucky.
Maybe they lived above their means, or maybe they never saved for that “rainy day”, but some people have downsized their homes to the point of having to put their belongings in storage units because their things won’t fit in their new living spaces.

Every time I drive by the rental units, they always seem to be busier than ever, but now I think there’s a reason why that I never considered.

Apparently, the storage unit owners auction off whatever is inside the locker area when the renter misses a payment. It’s part of the rules, and I get that. Ownership is ownership, but reading about the stuff that is left behind when people can’t pay the rental fee anymore is pretty sad. Sometimes a whole life of memories is in a few boxes that someone else thinks is worth ten bucks…and they’ll probably throw out most of it anyway.
Documents, post cards, love letters, wedding albums, baby photos, even urns containing ashes… the things that we can reduce to a box and say "this is my life’s history." And then have nowhere safe to keep it except for a rental storage unit that ultimately can’t be paid for.

I started reading a Yahoo News story about someone paying $400 bucks for the contents of a unit and finding a $10,000 Harley inside and my initial thought was something completely different than what I ended up thinking.
I have mixed emotions about it. I understand contracts are contracts and property rights apply…and all that. I guess if I had my way, I’d buy someone’s life full of memories and do whatever I could to track that person down and give it back to them. It makes me think about how I’d feel if my possessions were reduced to a few boxes and I had to choose what was important enough to save in a locked rental unit.
MiniMe’s baby book with her first haircut lock of hair and first lost baby tooth.
My grandmother’s engagement ring and a photo of her as a child with my great grandpa.
A little rocking chair that was for my 1st birthday.
The only oil painting I ever did.
An antique angel figurine with my birthstone in it, given to me by my aunt.
Shells that JL picked up on the island we accidentally spent the day on.
A little wooden chest that has our dog’s favorite toy, collar, and ashes inside.
A special coin that I carry every day.
A plastic doll that was my mothers, given to her by her dad when she was 6…just before he died.
The empty shell from the first clay I ever hit.
And if I had them, my dad’s dog tags…but I don’t want to have them because that means he’s gone.

Wonder what some unsuspecting person who paid ten bucks would think? "Junk"? Probably.
What would go in your box?