Even though this Trawler has a ton of room (for a Trawler) - even a FULL-Size refrigerator, we have to minimize.
I find letting go of so much a freeing and scary proposition. What do you do with Grandma's teacups? Sure there are only 2, with matching saucers; and they're pretty, but also pretty useless.
As a boy, my Dad, who was raised in Maine, used to accompany his sister Mary and Mother Marian, across the Canadian border where she would buy decorative teacups and saucers. She had quite a collection going and enjoyed hosting parties at her house.
I imagine she and her friends played cards, then stopped for dessert and coffee or tea and used these teacups. No one was checking their phones... but I'm sure they were catching each other up on neighborhood news and enjoying each other's company. Old-timey Facebook!
Dad also told me that his Mom pressed him and his sister to conceal the teacups and saucers in the clothing they were wearing when they crossed the border back to America... probably to avoid paying taxes. These teacups and saucers are rascally and from this story, I inferred they had enough - perhaps more than enough as there was money to buy these indulgences!
My dear cousin Enga sent the teacups to me when her Mom, Mary passed on. Aunt Mary had inherited the teacups from Grandma Marian. When Enga got them she felt it was right and good to pass some along to Dad's side of the family. I was very happy to have them and remember the story Dad enjoyed telling us about smuggling the teacups across the border.
My Mother (who grew up in Ohio) gave me a teapot that her mother, Grace, had gotten as a bonus for selling things door to door during the Great Depression. Mom also told me how she and her twin brothers felt pressed to help Grace tend a vacant lot in the neighborhood to raise food that would be preserved so the family could sustain itself through the winter. From this story, I inferred that they never had enough.
So now I have a teapot from one Grandma to go with the teacups from the other Grandma. It's practically a collection!
And it's too much! I can't take them with me when I live on a boat. One good wave and they'd come crashing down. I'll be offering them to my brothers' and their wives.
These pictures and the stories about my parents' families will be plenty to hold onto. No space required!
Creating and collecting memories we can share with loved ones and others... those are probably our most precious possessions and you can cram billions and billions of them onto any sized boat.
As part of this paring down, I'll be digitizing and posting family pictures (someone else will have to hold onto the originals in their photo albums). I'm looking forward to the journey down memory lane as I compile them and share them with family members.
The flood of stories I remember by doing that may be enough to fill an ocean, but not enough to swamp the largest tanker or even a 37-foot Trawler with lots of storage space.
First things first: pare down the non-essentials! Then onto the practical things... clothes, kitchen items, etc.
I'll let you know which one is harder for me. Which would be harder for you?
Sam
