I think I was disowned. Or maybe it was not personal and I merely lost claim to my possessions after fifteen years of storage. Here, let me tell you what happened. I went to visit my parents this week. They are nice people. You would like them. My parents are alone in a large house and the stairs are getting more and more of a challenge for them. They have been talking about moving out of my childhood homestead for a few years.
Think about it. Moving after living in the same place for 47 years is a huge challenge. Heck, moving is a challenge in itself. I was in my last place for four years and it took a couple months to pack everything up. It took me a year to unpack.
47 years of accumulated stuff. Forget about packing, the clean-up is an enormous task. But, my parents finally took the plunge and started the clean-up. They started with my stuff.
In a big box labelled as garbage lay not an inconsiderable amount of my childhood memories. Toys, games, books.
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| Phil and Tony Esposito Action Hockey Game |
Now they didn't say, there is Ohara's stuff, let's throw it out. It was more like, see that dusty stuff, let's throw it out without looking at what's inside.
Amazingly enough, they have tons of their own things to go through. I don't think they know what is in the bottom of their hall closet. Or pantry. Or pockets.
How does this work? Do I lose claim to my possessions after a number of years? I suppose squatter's right won't apply as we aren't talking about land or a building. What is the statute of limitations for claiming your belongings from your parents? I am trying to remember from my studies how this applies but I do not believe this was ever addressed in any Law and Order episode.
Am I supposed to be notified by the Department of Unclaimed Properties and Effects (D.U.P.E)?
As I mentioned my parents are nice people. You would like them. Mostly because they didn't try to throw out your stuff.
Okay, before I got to the air hockey photo I thought, 'Throw it all away. If you don't remember having it (before seeing it) it needs to be dumped.'
ReplyDeleteBut then I saw the action hockey game -- gotta keep that -- and then a shoot 'em up game with cans and a rifle! Keep. The. Rifle.
So, in short, throw away anything that's not games or toys.
Any time my brother or I wanted to play hockey we would ask the other "Do you want to play Phil and Tony Esposito Action Hockey Game?" It almost became a ritual where we had to say the entire name of the game.
ReplyDeleteI also saved Trouble but I don't know what happened to Kerplunk.
Dear Ohara, that is too sad. You poor dear, having your childhood tossed! Your parents are unfeeling people. Do you have a good therapist? Go get a massage!
ReplyDeleteOh, they have since apologized. They even went to the point of giving me an overgenerous birthday gift.
ReplyDeleteI got a pair of socks! Not just one sock. A pair!
But did they keep the university text books? You never know when you'll want to brush up on intro to psych from the early 90's!
ReplyDeleteD2B, I forgot about my text books. Come to think of it I took the books I wanted to keep, Film Studies, Music Production and some of the Political Science tomes. They can keep the Psych texts.
ReplyDelete