Give back the things I have borrowed

My work-friend, J, gave me a lot of things about three years ago that belonged to her recently-deceased aunt. J was in charge of taking care of her aunt’s estate – a large and emotionally stressful project – and she expressed that she was glad to pass along some of her aunt’s things to me because she saw something of her aunt’s spirit in me; giving certain things to a specifically chosen person rather than having everything hauled off by a charity truck was a relief for her, and I was happy to be the recipient.

In the past 9 months, J has been going through a complicated long-distance divorce. She expressed to me today that she believes she won’t be able to retrieve any of her belongings from her estranged-husband’s house, which means that all of her aunt’s belongings that J opted to keep for herslef are now lost to her. I’m trying to reduce my ownership of possessions as much as possible right now, and so even though some of the things I have that were J’s aunt’s are among my favorite possessions, it makes sense to return them to her. I expressed this desire to her today and her eyes filled with tears.

Locating possessions in their proper places, in general, is a good feeling for me; in this case it feels great.

that I have completed this goal. I’m currently in a process of getting rid of almost everything, so I have a pretty good sense of what items are in my possession. Feels good to be out of debt.

I gave back a ton of things I had borrowed from my dad. Even things I didn’t borrow – things he gave me or things I had that I thought he’d have a use for – I gave to him. I’m in get rid of everything mode. I’m also bringing things (unborrowed) to my brother on the way through SF, and seeking out anything else that I can return or else pawn off on the people in my life. Very, very soon I’ll be happy to confidently call this goal completed.

I move out of my place at the end of the month. I’ll be housesitting for two and a half months then. I’m not really interested in moving a bunch of crap into someone else’s house, so I’ll go through everything and get my returnings figured out before I change residences.

I sent Viejo home with an armload of things yesterday. It felt good to move some things that had become stagnant.

When I was young, I was terrible at this. For whatever reason, I would have a very difficult time giving back the things I had borrowed in a timely manner, and then I would feel ashamed at not having given them back for so long so to avoid feeling stupid as I returned something months later, I’d simply not return it. I hated this trait, but somehow I would often get trapped by this pattern.

More recently, as I’ve acquired a desire to be rid of my own things, I’ve not had so much difficulty in returning to the rightful owner things that are not my own. It’s been a process of transition; as I’ve pared down my belongings from a two-storey apartment to several bins in my friend’s shed I’ve come across things that are not my own and taken steps to return them.

I’ll have to clean up my space and make certain before I check this one off my list for sure, but I thnk I can give myself credit for completing this goal, or at least for successfully transitioning into a new pattern in my life. I know I still have Irieman’s internet cable, a DVD of my mom’s, and my latest library book.

I borrowed a LCD projector and a high-capacity flash drive from the technical guy at work. Both items helped me out considerably, and I was lucky enough to be able to keep them for over two weeks. Time to give them back! I’m off to do it now.

I borrowed M’s batteries on Monday, intending to return them that evening. But I forgot to bring them with me when I was near her house. So I called her and promised to bring them to her on Tuesday. But I got home late and didn’t want to drive across town. I’ll be at her place tonight and she needs her batteries so she can use her camera tonight. DO NOT FORGET, DO NOT FORGET!

returned my library book today.

Last night I returned two movies to B&D that we’ve had out for a while. I’d hate to have their stuff go AWOL in the move.