NEW INSIGHT

Question: Why are retirees so slow to clean out the basement, attic or garage?
Answer: They know that as soon as they do, one of their adult kids will want to store stuff there..

When I received the above from a friend, it made me stop, not only to rationalize my procrastination but to see the wisdom of not rushing to take care of everything that people tell me needs doing. Aside from the people who are always giving decorating hints, my cleaning woman who finds it easier when there are fewer items on surfaces and tells me the house looks so much better (as in after Xmas when I have not yet put house decorations back).

Indeed, my preference has always been for simplicity except that 'things' are like people to me...and that disqualifies them as clutter. Another reason I probably won't leave a spotless house when I go is that I, like most seniors, do not want to spend the rest of my days cleaning up messes. I gave at the office and everywhere else most of my life. Maybe there is a sense of balance or justice in there. I have never known an elder to die with a clean house. I suppose that says something I should understand...and am now beginning to think about. The answer came as a shock to me. It is: 'I don't really care what people think of me when I am dead...I will never know!' Antecedent relatives who left so much for me to clean up didn't worry about it beforehand and, unlikely, after death. I see no reason to reinvent this wheel...

So as long as I am paying my bills and enjoy being surrounded by a life of hobbies and 'stuff' as George Carlin used to say, I will play with as much of my time as I can fit in...with or without playmates, though I can usually find quite a few willing to go off and have fun rather than continuing to peel their nose on the grindstone for no real purpose in life but to have a neat house.