A straightforward forward (is that too forward?)

My family has a lot of shit.

A strong percentage (at least 80%) of the Oliveses are what you’d call “hoarders.” I’ve tried to reconcile this by trying my hardest not to hold onto things from the past that don’t need to be saved. I throw away or give away or sell what I can, but as a kid, I amassed a lot. Not that I was greedy or spoiled, mind you, it’s just that I was…well…ok, I may have been a little spoiled. I’m paying for that now as I (perhaps wrongly) volunteered to clean my family’s attic.

The past 10 years or so of my life have been relatively clutter-free. I’ve enjoyed having the extra room to do with what I will, without the burden or guilt associated with the nagging thought that “I just might need this” which prevents even the most conservative of us to hold onto items well after their expiration date. For those 10+ years, I’ve done a fairly good job of detouring that question with the bulk of my inanimate objects. I attribute that success mainly to the fact that I occupied relatively small spaces in a big city full of lots of people and lots of things. In those situations, it’s easier to let go. In those situations, it’s easier to toss/sell/give away.

Now I’ve moved home (temporarily) and my old ghosts of inanimate objects past have come to haunt me and the existential shoulder tap of “you just might need that” (when I most likely won’t ) has returned as I sort through the wreckage of my parent’s attic.

It’s my belief that cataloguing the most amusing of these items will help bring me the much needed closure I require to live, once more, stuff-free.

Welcome to the Olives Attic