I was strolling through Facebook the other day when a post about National Old Day on the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion page caught my attention. They have old things there and I enjoy attending the reunion on Labor Day weekend and watching how old things work from back in the old days.
Well, there’s a national day for about everything from, well, everything. So, I’m thinking National Old Day is a topic worth learning more about. I’m old, but not that old. I like old things and talking to old folks and even have some old traditions. Anyway, after digging into this subject a bit more, I discovered that March 2, the day I was on Facebook, was National Old Stuff Day, not National Old Day. That puts a whole new spin on getting old. According to nationaltoday.com, National Old Stuff Day, is the day when people across the country clean out their closets and garages, rediscover old treasures and declutter their lives. Just in time for spring cleaning, National Old Stuff Day is a great opportunity to devote a day to tend to one’s closet, attic and other cluttered spaces that don’t get a lot of attention. Heck, my whole house needs a good decluttering. And here’s the fun part, National Old Stuff Day is also about changing an old habit or trying a new activity. That’s a lot to tackle in one day – cleaning out your closet and garage and stopping eating potato chips. Nationaltoday.com suggested folks get creative with new ways to organize, appreciate or get rid of ‘old stuff’ in their lives. I want to get this out of the way. I work two jobs – my day job and the newspaper. I don’t have a lot of time in the middle of the week to declutter my house. I like to take an afternoon nap because I’m getting older. That takes a lot of time. The biggest problem in our house, as I see it, is we need more storage space so when I declutter the bedroom closet, I have some place to put all the stuff in the closet that I want to keep, which is most of it. This opens up the bedroom closet for another truckload of stuff. It’s good to have goals. We all understand about keeping stuff – you might need it one of these days. You can keep it for 29.5 years and never use it. But if you throw it out or donate it, three weeks later it’s a sure bet that you’ll be looking to replace whatever it is that you tossed out. If you keep whatever it is, you will never, ever need or use it. I love to go antiquing and have had dreams in the past about getting a call from the American Pickers to hit the road for some picking. I’m sure I could find some goodies to pick and also sure that is probably not going to happen. I have an old three-way antique lamp that was owned by Debbie’s grandmother. I found a new lightbulb socket for it at the hardware store in Grinnell. I’m going to replace the electric cord and clean the tarnish off of it and put it to use in our house. It’s a beautiful old antique lamp that deserves to be used. I also have lots of photos and other items such as my dad’s old handsaw collection that I want to keep. I also have a set of harnesses that my grandfather on my dad’s side used in the WPA (Works Progress Administration) days on his team of horses to help build roads in the Sooner state. I’ve thought about donating the set of harnesses to the Old Threshers Reunion or a horse museum. If there was a way that I could display them, I would keep the harnesses. I have some other small antiques and enjoy spending time looking for treasures. I have my ever growing postcard collection, a collection of old cigar boxes and some Pepsi memorabilia. I also have two shoeboxes filled with seed corn books, pop bottle openers, Old Threshers pinback buttons, old board games and an assortment of other smalls. It’s fun to look back on the old days and reflect on life in simpler times. Even with all the technology at hand, there’s something about stopping by your neighbors and visiting about old things and old times. My dad loved going back to the river bottoms east of Tulsa and visiting the old timers who he grew up around. And my mom loved going back and reliving memories of growing up in southeast Missouri. I enjoy it as well. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.
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