It was late summer, shadows were long and we just had a dumpster delivered. It was my fault, I’ve been driving a pickup truck and that always has repercussions… as I always bring stuff home in it.

Shelley was in tears again, as I emptied the tools into the barn. She said “enough is enough” Get a dumpster or I will. She wins with those words every time.

We filled a 20 yard dumpster in 3 days. I will utter the hardest words that every man must quietly admit to themselves … “she was right, too much junk“

My real problem is that when I am in process of a project, I am not neat, I am wasteful, I become more disorganized as the project goes… I only see possibility, I look forward, I forget about the wake.

I am an american titan when I am in the barn, noise, fumes, waste, materials, tools, funds, you name it and I will waste it. Global warming, waste, Haaa !

Once the Barn started to relieve itself into the dumpster, different ideas began to percolate. That’s a good thing, usually. For another week or so we did a classic give away. There were many things we / I had been saving … we started giving stuff away. Very cathartic. We also then pressured my sister to purge her least important “things” that we have stored for her. It was cathartic for her as well.

Then an epiphany … this barn is big. Lets put an addition on !! maybe 2.

I was holding on to a vision, I could see an indoor Pickleball court. This building is real. It just needed to be finished and expanded or vice-versa.

Let’s recap – too much stuff coming into a seemingly small space, let’s expand the space and finish it off so we can play pickleball. Hmmm

We still have stuff, but now we have wings … actually lean-too’s. (I’m not sure that is a word)

The right wing is power tools, ladders, hand tools all in one spot … The left wing will be gardening, fertilizers etc .. This a major leap forward in organization for us.

The best part of all of this are the now “empty” walls of of the barn. We have been collectors, inheritors and savers, for ourselves and a few others who are dear to us. What most people do not understand is, they are highly unlikely to get anything back – once it has gone into the barn. Sorry.

We have been decorating all the walls, with all the stuff, from all the years. We have moved a few times, so all this has been purged at least twice. We have winnowed down to what amuses us the most. Now it all hangs on the walls.

There isn’t a lot a financial value there, but entertainment value and family history value and stories that are all around you, it is great. My first set of golf clubs, family pictures, that cannot make the grade for the house. The childhood metal car from Bill, his sleds too. Axes and log picks, apple pickers and the extra long septic shovel. The wooden racks, shelves and cubby’s from the Paines. Chains, hooks and wrenches that reach back 80 years from all over NE. The 2 wooden boxes that were from my fathers house, that were in his fathers house, that hold old nuts and bolts that no one ever uses … The bell collection from Rindge now has a public home. There is a boat / lobster hook that came from the house in Cotuit. They also had a home in Weston. It was the end of the line for that crew, the last homes were sold and the monies divided, 4 generations and poof ! There are the glass door knobs, brass switch plates and pulls from the house in West Hartford. There is one lone brick left from the house at 25 Birch St.

I could go on, but now it’s best to just go and sit in and bask in all the history. We have a very special friend who has a home in Cambridge, up on her 3rd floor, there is a room filled with her precious memories, her farm house living room, from Millis. Wonderful spot. SWP and SDP are our inspiration.

These memories, these places, once upon a time, seemed like a burden. But not any more. We get to enjoy it all one more time, it is simply good. And we get to play Pickleball.

Thanks everyone. H