{"id":30901,"date":"2012-10-26T12:56:05","date_gmt":"2012-10-26T18:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/26\/the-remains-of-the-life.html"},"modified":"2012-11-01T09:18:45","modified_gmt":"2012-11-01T15:18:45","slug":"the-remains-of-the-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/26\/the-remains-of-the-life.html","title":{"rendered":"The Remains of the Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

While on some errands today, I saw a sign in the neighborhood for an estate sale and, on a whim, dropped in.<\/p>\n

I found it all very melancholy. \u00a0Well, not the people there — they were chipper and going about their business and all. \u00a0But for myself, I found it a poignant affair, going room to room, a person's life (in possessions) laid out in thematic clusters, each neatly tagged for price. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of it was stuff that would probably never go. \u00a0Racks of VHS tapes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I found myself trying to figure out who this person was, like I was an archaeologist piecing together an ancient civilization. \u00a0Or maybe Sherlock Holmes.<\/p>\n

An elderly lady. Possessions dated back to the 50s and 60s at least. \u00a0Very devout, based on the number of Bibles, Bible commentaries, and general spiritual books here and about. \u00a0Lots of Christmas decorations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her husband had passed away earlier. \u00a0In the garage there was a tool bench, nothing newer than twenty years old, well-used, lots of hand-labeled drawers of washers and screws and pencils. \u00a0No other sign of him, though, unless the powered wheelchair in the garage was his. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Clothes, and china, and more books, and bits of jewelry, and cookbooks on crockpots.<\/p>\n

Tried to keep fit. There were three or four exercise machines in the basement and garage. Books on eating healthy.<\/p>\n

Perfume. Earrings.<\/p>\n

I didn't really find anything that I actually wanted, except an unopened block of notepaper from the Met.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But everything that was there, everything neatly arranged on tables and other flat surfaces, neatly marked with price tags ("Unmarked items will be priced at the door") was something that had belonged to her, or to her and her husband. Something they had wanted, once, and had bought. \u00a0Or received as a gift. \u00a0A lifetime of collecting things, reduced to people walking through, examining, evaluating, and quietly haggling over the price.<\/p>\n

If we are our possessions, it was an open casket funeral, with strangers.<\/p>\n

Makes me think of what my own hypothetical estate sale would look like. \u00a0More eclectic, I suspect. \u00a0What would be made of me, laying out the stuff I find decorative, valuable, worth buying and keeping and using? "Did he read all those books? \u00a0Why does he still have that? Who would ever find that attractive? \u00a0Wonder where that came from?"<\/p>\n

Like I said, a bit melancholy, but also … interesting. \u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Google+:<\/strong> View post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While on some errands today, I saw a sign in the neighborhood for an estate sale and, on a whim, dropped in. I found it all very melancholy. \u00a0Well, not the people there — they were chipper and going about their business and all. \u00a0But for myself, I found it a poignant affair, going room … Continue reading “The Remains of the Life”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-personal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22931,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/02\/dave-does-the-comics-issue-12-2-oct-2011.html","url_meta":{"origin":30901,"position":0},"title":"***Dave Does the Comics – Issue 12 (2 Oct 2011)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 2-Oct-11 12:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This was a long one, probably mostly because there were so many good or key comics out I wanted to discuss. \u00a0We get the wrap-up of the New 52 premieres, a lot of problems with inkers and colorists, a great kid's book (Possessions), and a remarkable new\/old Graphic Novel, out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "***Dave Does the Comics"","block_context":{"text":"***Dave Does the Comics","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics\/dave-does-the-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/teen-titans_games_fullcover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/teen-titans_games_fullcover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/teen-titans_games_fullcover.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/teen-titans_games_fullcover.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/teen-titans_games_fullcover.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/teen-titans_games_fullcover.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1539,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/12\/13\/thoughts_on_eur.html","url_meta":{"origin":30901,"position":1},"title":"Thoughts on Europe and America","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 13-Dec-01 2:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"USS Clueless has some interesting thoughts on the differences between the US and Europe, and why the US seems to frequently be playing the \"lone wolf\" when it comes to...","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3268,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/01\/02\/alert_alert.html","url_meta":{"origin":30901,"position":2},"title":"Alert! 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