All Psyched Up: Heirlooms

By Linda Hancock on March 1, 2025.

I used to like “stuff” but have recently changed my mind.

My mother “inherited” so many things from each of my grandmothers and, of course, when mom died, I ended up with all of it.

Everything was fine until I moved, after 25 years in Medicine Hat, to Calgary. I had three moving trucks hired. One of them took things to the office where internet buyers picked them up and paid for them. The second truck filled my condo of approximately 1000 square feet, so full that we had to get a grandson to come with his truck to haul enough out in order to survive. The third truck brought over 3,000 client files to a storage that I had rented in the parkade here.

I think I must have been overwhelmed because I just kept working while kind family members sorted and put things away for me.

It will be four years in June since I moved, and my kitchen counter has been cluttered with all the basics that I need to cook. When you are only five feet tall, you need to have things handy.

A good friend recently suggested that perhaps I could declutter, and the neighbours showed me how they had doubled their space by replacing shelves with sliding drawers in their cupboards.

I went crazy! I hired professional organizers to get rid of about half of my “stuff”. They returned to empty bathrooms, hallway and kitchen cupboards while the installer secured about 30 new sliders and shelves. The organizers returned the next day to organize everything in the new spaces. (Probably not a great idea to plan like this as I also had eye surgery that day).

Well, some of my “stuff” has gone to the garbage and some was donated to charity. The best times, however, have been when I have been able to emotionally and physically let go of things that I had previously thought were “keepers” and gift them to family members.

My daughter was shocked and thrilled to receive the tablecloth that I had taken a year to crochet. My oldest granddaughter chose my set of Saskatchewan Prairie Lily dishes (I still have several sets of dishes), a lamp, and a picture of the ocean near Nanaimo to move to her home in British Columbia. One grandson got my fancy grey dining room linen set complete with napkins and rings. Another took a wall picture and Galileo temperature gauge. I had two metronomes so the grandson who plays guitar took one of them.

My dad’s dresser from childhood and mom’s cedar chest will be moved to my daughter’s home soon.

I am having fun! We are planning to make a cookbook out of random recipe cards and get copies of the family tree dating back to 1750 made for everyone.

My great-granddaughter took twelve bottles of bubble bath (who on earth has twelve bottles on hand) as most people don’t have bathtubs anymore.

My granddaughter’s fiancé wondered if I was dying this weekend as he watched the distribution event.

Now, I don’t know what you have or what you want to keep but I do know that it is better to give than to receive. I also know that the cake plates from England which would likely go on a garage sale for 50 cents will instead be treasured in the hands of the next generation.

Maybe it is time to take stock. And then get rid of the stock!

Try it! You will love to see the smiles on the faces of the recipients!

Dr. Linda Hancock, the author of “Life is An Adventure…every step of the way” and “Open for Business Success” is a Registered Psychologist who has a private practice in Calgary. She can be reached by email at office@drlindahancock.com

18
-17