my stuff: my identity?

When we moved we had a few things break. Our bed frame sat in the hall for months until we found a welder and had him do an $8 repair. Now that our mattress is off the floor, we feel like we sleep in a real bed again.

Then there was the issue of the broken glass. We had two casualties - our brass rubbing from St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London and our Norwegian sardine label display from the canning museum in Stavanger. Both our kind of art - not pricey, by any means ($7 to make the rubbing, $5 for three posters of labels courtesy of Amoco Oil) but unique and reflecting a part of our lives.

Anyway, yesterday I finally got the glass taken care of - measured, ordered, picked up, replaced in the frames - and got the pix up on the walls. I was so happy. I've missed our art/wall decor. I also hung our Beatles albums and our Gothenburg Sweden Opera poster. Our house is becoming OUR home more and more each day.

That got me thinking about a friend of mine who took down his art prints because he recognized that he put them out to impress people - he was looking for strokes of his significance based on his possessions. I've been there.

When we lived in my grandparents' basement for a while, we used her dishes. My things were packed away - plates, silverware and glasses that more often than not garnered compliments from guests. Instead when friends came over we ate off of white Correll ware with green flowers, mismatched plastic cups and mismatched silverware. I didn't get compliments anymore.

When I felt so happy yesterday, felt like I was once again living in my own space with my own memories surrounding me, I had a tinge of pride-check. Am I looking for approval? Am I trying to impress guests to our home with my "cool" stuff? I suppose we never really escape the abyss (Garden State reference) of our own ego.

I'm sure this is a case of over analyzing my own umbilicus. Oh well. I'm off to read in our great living room surrounded by Norroene Helter, Kvinnemotiv, og forskelige ting og tang.

Ha det bra mine venner!

P. S. I understand that my stuff communicates who I am to a degree, and I want to be known by people. So yes, when they come and feel the heft of my spoons and become intrigued with my sardine label display, I hope they see more of who I am and LIKE me! But all of that is held in check at least a bit. Just because I like my stuff doesn't mean anyone else will. There is always the probability that no matter how much I love my stuff and think it is just so utterly cool, other people don't necessarily think so. In that case, I'll be having the negative effect! Yikes!