The Old Box of Treasured Junk

Misty Hollow Carving
This BLOG is sponsored by “Misty Hollow Carving”. You are welcome to visit Misty Hollow and see all of my carvings.

My Web Site is a like a Gallery – please drop in for a stroll through.

To help me promote my Web Site please copy this URL address and email to someone today http://www.murraylincoln.com/ 

* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post


The Old Box of Treasured Junk
As I lifted the heavy box to the top of the Dumpster and then turned it over the sound was deafening! It was like a roar of a million pieces of metal splashing like water. I don’t know how to describe it – really.

I was standing beside a huge blue metal collection container. It is offered free in our community to anyone wanting to get rid of scrap metal. They in turn ship this to larger collection areas where it is sold. They make money from it and you get to clean up your garage(or yard).

As I listened to the roar of the material I wanted to take one last look at the stuff going into the collection container. This stuff had traveled with me for thousands of miles. Yep, thousands. You read that right.

I have started the clean up and getting rid of the junk in my garage. The first thing was all the metal part and pieces that have kind of stopped there with no place to go.

And I really did use them and had kept them for good reasons. Honestly! My wife wondered at my sanity – but it was good stuff. At least a dozen times it had saved me in tough situations. If I needed a part or my friends had needed a part, I needed only to go to the junk box(es) and fish out the valuable old part.

The problem has been the valuable old pile and boxes full of junk – were getting older and older. Most older and older things I owned and once had were now gone. I didn’t need to fix them any more.

The one box that I lifted to the side of the container had not been looked at for about 10 years! Nope – didn’t need it any more!

There was a freedom driving back home. Our van had been full of junk – now it was empty. It was lighter and so was the feeling that I had.

But I was emotionally drained. I had just gone through a separation, a ripping of stuff from my life, a cleansing of sorts. And this had taking a toll on me.

The last time I had felt this was three years ago when I walked out of my work place for the last time. I had packed up all my stuff at the office and left. That day had completed 35 years of working faithfully at the job place! It was over.

My wife asked me how long we had the one box that I told her about. I said, “Since the days that I helped Willy at the apartment.”

She looked at me incredulously. “That was 1980!”

“I know it was, but it was valuable stuff!” I replied.

She shook her head. I dropped mine. It seemed so important at the time. Honestly.

Now it wasn’t like we had not moved. We had moved that stuff from Oakville, Ont. to Regina, Sask. back to Oakville, over to Scarborough, then over to Yorkton, Sask and then to Regina, Sask. again – then finally to Peterborough, Ontario.

For non Canadian residents that have no idea where these places are… that box of junk traveled with us for a little over 7000 miles. I didn’t take it to Hong Kong where we lived from 1980 to 1985. But when we came back that treasure of junk was waiting for me and still had great value.

Now I know the clean freaks that have befriended me will be shaking their head and declaring, “He really is nuts.”

Nope – not nuts. I just had a box full of valuable stuff that saved me hundreds of dollars in its day.

Today I am in recovery. Today my son-in-laws are smiling. They have one less box to lift the week after my funeral.

Sheesh what a thought! No wonder I am in complete and total exhaustion today.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/