Editor’s note: Betty Heath is taking the week off. Please enjoy this offering from her archives.

With summer just around the corner, I’m thinking about ridding myself of some stuff. I am stuffed. Truth is, I’m probably overstuffed.

What is there about stuff that intrigues us so much? My daughter says her life is just a movement of stuff. We continuously move stuff, dust stuff, accumulate stuff, store stuff and sell stuff at rummage sales, garage sales or on eBay. Then, we go to work to buy more stuff. Soon, we complain that we have too much stuff, and the cycle begins again.

Almost a year ago, I talked one of my friends into going to several garage sales with me. It’s dangerous for me to go to any kind of sale alone, as I have no one to blame but myself when I buy stuff no one else wants. But, when I include a friend in my escapades, I can at least place part of the blame on them.

One fact I never want to face is that not everyone sees potential in broken-down furniture or a set of dishes with missing pieces. I see them as treasures. It’s an addicting illness that most people have who spend inordinate amounts of time scouring through garage sale stuff looking for treasures. Trash to treasures is my theme.

On this particular Saturday, we hit the jackpot. Through some intense bargaining, we came away with five pieces of old furniture for only $80. I have to admit a couple of pieces looked pretty ratty, but knowing a little bit about furniture restoration, we figured we could make a cool $500 on our newly found treasures.

Those five items sat in my garage for almost an entire year. After climbing around and over them numerous times, I decided I either needed to find a new home for those ratty items or I was throwing them away. With the help of that same friend, my garage has been restored to its original state and is no longer a storage locker. I will leave it to my readers to conjure up all kinds of stories about how that ratty-looking furniture disappeared.

Another friend is a quilter, and she has more fabric than most quilting stores. I have never seen so much fabric in one house in my entire life. She will be sitting in her rocker, quilting for a very long time when she retires. There is a saying among quilters that the one who dies with the most fabric wins. I have no doubt she will win that game hands down.

It’s all just stuff. We worry about the big stuff and sweat over the small stuff. After all is said and done, is our life going to be judged based on stuff? Do we think more stuff will bring us happiness? Or, perhaps make us a better person? Or, even make an impression on someone about the kind of stuff and how much of it we have? Is our worth really measured by stuff? I still have a certain amount of stuff that probably would just be considered as junk to most people.

Truth is, I just finished eating dinner, and I’m stuffed. I think I’ll wait until tomorrow to sort through my stuff and decide what goes and what stays. Besides, just as sure as I throw something out today it will be the very item I will be looking for tomorrow. That’s just the way life is. Maybe I’ll just toss all my stuff, aka junk, out and start the cycle over again. I’m sure my friends will agree with me on that.

Email Betty Heath at begeheath690@aol.com.