Friday November 17, 2006 SGN.org |
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Volume 34 Issue 46 |
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Saturday, Aug 30, 2008
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Tour De Life by Beau Burriola |
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| Things | ||
| Aunt Kathy Jane had things. All sorts of things. She had an old oak table that was hand made by her great, great granddaddy. She had this 'Daughters of the Republic of Texas' china doll collection with elaborately sewn and decorated southern dresses. She had original records and films she'd collected over her fifty some odd years. She had newspaper clippings of the Vietnam War. She had matches from every bowling alley in South Texas. Aunt Kathy was the Stuff Lady and going over to her house was always a mix of curiosity and clutter. The only problem with this otherwise normal old southern lady's hobby was that Aunt Kathy Jane and Uncle Ty weren't rich people. In fact, he earned barely enough to make it by. "She's gonna kill me!" he used to complain. "What do we need with all these damned dolls?!" But Uncle Ty knew she didn't work and she needed a hobby, so he let her go right on collecting. Last year during the San Marcos Flood, the old one story house was completely drowned. The old house collapsed half into the river's swell. Thousands of people evacuated as quickly as they could. As Aunt Kathy was frantically packing up her most precious items, Uncle Ty was pulling her along. "What do we need with the damned dolls?!" he yelled. "What will we do?" she asked me a week later when I had gotten through. "Can I send home money?" I'd do it anyway. "That's not it. The Central Baptist Church has taken up a collection, the Red Cross is all over the place and your Uncle Ty's still working," her voice had that old lady sadness that just gets me, "but all of my things. Did you know that Willie Nelson actually signed one of my little bitty guitar picks? And I saved for nearly six years to get that couch." I knew it wouldn't be the same to visit Aunt Kathy's house without her shot glass collection, the guitar pick collection, or the old Coke bottle collection. I would never again fall asleep on the couch half wondering if I would be attacked in my sleep by knife wielding china dolls. What if tomorrow, everything you had just disappeared? What if you woke up tomorrow morning and it was just all gone? Would you feel like your life was over? Would you feel like everything you had worked toward was gone? I'm not saving up for a new car anymore, even if I would have looked HOT in it. Instead of buying that $150 gothic picture frame I've had my eye on, I'm going to send some money home. The whole flood really put everything in perspective for me. I don't want to get to the end of my life and look back and say that everything I'd worked for could be destroyed in a flood. Instead, I think I'd rather put the effort toward the people and the experiences: my travels to Europe, taking guitar lessons, helping out family, and getting rid of all the things I don't much need anyhow. Instead, I want to focus on the people and events. When I spoke to Uncle Ty, he sounded noticeably lighter. "What did we need with all those damned dolls?" he asked me. Before I said anything, he answered with a satisfied old man grunt, "nuthin', that's what!" Yup. (Beau Burriola is a local writer selling and giving away all the things. beaubrent@gmail.com) |
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visit Beau at www.beaubrent.com
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