My Grandmother's Dining Room Set and Other Possessions

In 2 weeks, our move out of South Florida should be underway.  The moving van is scheduled for the morning of Thursday, July 21.  When we were moving ourselves in a U-Haul, we planned to drive part of the way after packing the van.  I assumed we would need to stop along the way because exhaustion would set in.  

Part of our packing process has been getting rid of stuff.  We've taken carloads of stuff to Goodwill and to our church, the 2 charity groups which are benefitting from this phase of our move.  I have a vision of Goodwill dumping our castaways directly into the garbage, but hopefully some of it will find a new home.

Now we are down to the bigger stuff, the furniture that we can take over in the car.  The biggest object, the piano, we've hired someone to take away on Tuesday, July 19.  We think we can get rid of the rest of it.

This morning I'm thinking of my grandmother's dining room set.  We began getting rid of it a few years ago when we got rid of the dining room table and chairs.  While I liked the way it expanded with a hidden leaf, it was never comfortable to sit at, and the chairs scratched the wood floors, no matter what we tried to do.  Plus it had lots of knobs on the legs, which made it hard to keep dust-free.

For this move, we're getting rid of the sideboard.  When we first got it, we used it to store extra tableware and linens in it.  In our last house, before the big kitchen remodel, we used it as extra counter space.  Lately, I had been using it as dresser to store clothes.

We are keeping the china cabinet.  We have a lot of china from my grandmother, and the cabinet holds it and displays it nicely.  Why are we keeping the china?  We will have 2 households for the next few years, so we may as well use the china.  My spouse has always wished we used the china more, and now we'll see if it's as usable as he thinks.  At this point, we don't have a dishwasher at either of the places we'll be living, so the fact that the china can't go in the dishwasher isn't the issue it has been in the past.

We are also getting rid of the radio cabinet that came from my grandmother.  It used to hold very old radio/record playing equipment.  A few years ago, we took that out and made it into a cabinet.  My grandmother used it primarily as a surface to hold her African violet plants.  I feel a bit sorry to see it go, but it doesn't work well as a cabinet--the doors don't like to stay closed.

We are keeping the roll top desk and the cedar chest, as well as a variety of smaller, more portable items.  In some ways, I wish I was the kind of person who held no sentimental attachment to things, but I do--that's how I came to have them.  In some ways, I know I'm fortunate in all sorts of ways, some of which are symbolized in these possessions handed down to me.