Last month, I posted a couple blogs about culling one’s collections & finding new homes for those once-loved items. I’m not as far along in that journey as I’d hoped by now. Could the following experience have tripped me up?
Amid all the antiques that needed to move on to new pastures, I managed to sabotage myself by adding a huge something to my stash. A NEW something I’d wanted for years. A mixer.
Not just any mixer either. A cobalt blue, 5-quart, KitchenAid mixer with glass bowl & powerful wattage. Since I love to buy extra storage for my computer & phone, it makes sense in my world to buy an appliance that’s more than I really need. And such a deal! It looked so fine sitting on Hondaleezza’s back seat. I belted it in, lovingly.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it out of the car when I got home. Maybe the thick, glass bowl pushed it over the weight limit. I could have asked for help, but that’s not my strong suit. I figured it could just ride with me until I got over myself.
But after a couple months of driving my KitchenAid passenger around, admiring the box, & imagining all the amazing cakes I would bake, a reality check tapped me on the shoulder. My kitchen didn’t have a spot for it. Yet. It might, once I remodeled; but for now, I’d have to store it. And lift it.
It’s embarrassing how long it took me to finally decide to take it back. One day I definitely would return it. The next, no! It was exactly what I wanted. But I knew I’d bought in haste & hey…I needed that back seat space. In a last attempt to keep it, I bargained with myself, “Okay, I’ll return it IF there’s still time on the receipt.” I’d entertained it so long in my car, I was sure the time had run out. But, no. The store gave customers 120 days to bring back an item. What luck.
With help from a brawny store employee who loaded the KitchenAid mixer into a shopping cart, I took it back, still new in the box, arguing with myself through the entire procedure. Waving “goodbye” to it across the counter, I knew I’d likely be in for a time of mourning over the loss of that pretty thing.
But I didn’t mourn at all. I think the victory of choosing wisdom over the loss of something I could buy again at a later time soothed me. And one more box of stuff unnecessary to my life – gone! Whoop-whoop!
“Choice is strength. Having choice is also freedom.” Coulter Watt
Crafting Mysteries & Suspense 