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Paperwork: It was time again for the dreaded question: ’Do we still need this?’ · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Paperwork. It was time again for the dreaded question, do
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  Speaker 1: we still need this? Written by Lonnie Kane. This article
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  Speaker 1: is being read by an automated voice brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Everlit. What good is having stuff if you don't
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  Speaker 1: know you have it? I bump into this reality every
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  Speaker 1: time I am forced to clean my garage. Yes, forced.
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  Speaker 1: If I weren't married, my garage would eventually become fodder
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  Speaker 1: for archaeologists studying an ancient generation known as boomers. But alas,
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  Speaker 1: I am married, and annually, Cindy says, it's time. Our
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  Speaker 1: garage needs a cleaning and rearranging. Cindy is very excited
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  Speaker 1: about the black and yellow bins lining our shelves, all
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  Speaker 1: labeled and ready for public tours. Sorry, I get a
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  Speaker 1: bit sarcastic. But I know what's coming. Everything must go
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  Speaker 1: is the silent command. This always erupts a small volcano
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  Speaker 1: inside me after the repeated question, do we really need this? Now,
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  Speaker 1: need is a challenging word. What do people really need? Food, water, shelter, clothing,
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  Speaker 1: a few kind words. So my reply is usually, no,
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  Speaker 1: don't need it, but might want it someday. Ah, the
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  Speaker 1: magic word someday. After our recent garage confrontation, it suddenly
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  Speaker 1: hit me. There won't be a someday, not at my age.
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  Speaker 1: So I am questioning my parents' belief. Never throw anything
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  Speaker 1: away that has purpose or use. You might need it someday.
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  Speaker 1: There's a plastic gallon jug I inherited from my dad
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  Speaker 1: years ago, along with his chainsaw. The jug is kept
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  Speaker 1: by the chainsaw but becomes an intruder every time we
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  Speaker 1: clean the garage. Cindy holds it up and asks, do
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  Speaker 1: we know what this is? That's not the question she
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  Speaker 1: wants to ask. But I always say maybe chain oil?
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  Speaker 1: Maybe a gas oil mix? Not sure. End of story
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  Speaker 1: until next time. I have never checked the liquid contents
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  Speaker 1: I saved for, you know, someday. But this time I
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  Speaker 1: stood in my garage feeling like someday had arrived. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I was still irritated. It's hard to let go of
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  Speaker 1: a mindset I've gripped for a lifetime. so I know
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  Speaker 1: this is going to be a slow process, but I
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  Speaker 1: do believe it has begun. The marital friction eases after
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  Speaker 1: a few days and my wife is happy with what vanishes,
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  Speaker 1: but this time I think she won more than she knows.
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  Speaker 1: I am beginning to wonder when sentiment becomes sediment, sediment,
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  Speaker 1: that stuff that weighs more over time as it builds
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  Speaker 1: up and demands space. I do tuck stuff into spaces
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  Speaker 1: where it's not hurting anyone. In a corner of my workbench,
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  Speaker 1: a ragged old towel covers a number four Underwood Standard typewriter,
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  Speaker 1: I had to stop writing this piece to go look
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  Speaker 1: at it, to see if I could part with it.
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  Speaker 1: The typewriter still dates back to the early 1900s, a
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  Speaker 1: historical tool of my trade. Is it sentiment or sediment?
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  Speaker 1: Here's how this usually goes. The mindset kicks in. Oh, wow.
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  Speaker 1: I forgot I had that. It's beautiful. What grand history.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if a good cleanup and maybe some repair
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  Speaker 1: would get it back into shape. I should find out. Someday.
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  Speaker 1: I have many sentimental items around the house that await
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  Speaker 1: that someday. This scenario also always triggers the initial thought
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  Speaker 1: that hits me as I begin pulling towels off typewriters
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  Speaker 1: or opening old jars. What good is having stuff if
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  Speaker 1: you don't know you have it? I tell myself I
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  Speaker 1: should compile an inventory to keep track of what I
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  Speaker 1: have and where it can be found. That sounds funny,
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  Speaker 1: but what's even funnier is that I actually started such
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  Speaker 1: a list more than once. I have no idea where
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  Speaker 1: those lists are and they never got very long because
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  Speaker 1: there is a lot to catalog. A lot, and how
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  Speaker 1: do you inventory those little things that look useful, but
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  Speaker 1: you're not sure what they are? I have boxes full
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  Speaker 1: of those. Oh boy. You see the problem, right? Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: I should do what I do on my cluttered computer desktop,
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  Speaker 1: full of documents and little blue folders. Each day, I
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  Speaker 1: file or remove two or three items before the clutter
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  Speaker 1: begins to overlap. I could do the same in my garage.
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  Speaker 1: Two or three items a day or even a week
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  Speaker 1: would be great. I will give it a try. I'll
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  Speaker 1: start with that jug. Someday... And that now means pretty soon.
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  Speaker 1: Lonnie Cain, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa,
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  Speaker 1: also was a reporter for the Herald News in Joliet
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  Speaker 1: in the 1970s. His paperwork email is lonniejacain at gmail.com.
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  Speaker 1: Or mail the News Tribune, 426 2nd Street, LaSalle, Illinois, 61301.