One Thing From Each Room
Their moving costs allow for eight boxes and one small crate.
Picture a couple named Agnes and Ralph, 67 and 69. They are leaving a house of thirty-one years for an apartment in a city in Portugal. Their moving costs allow for eight boxes and one small crate. The house holds six rooms, a garage and an attic.
Agnes cried over the list. Ralph made the list because he finds it easier to start with a spreadsheet. He wrote keep and give in two columns and then sat looking at both for an hour with nothing under keep.
"I don't know how to choose between the baby quilt and the school drawings," he said.
"Then let's not choose that way," Agnes said. "Let's take one thing from each room. Only one. The thing that, when we hold it, brings back the whole room."
Ralph looked at her. "That is a hard rule."
"It's an easy rule," Agnes said. "It only feels hard at the start."
They began with the kitchen. Ralph chose a wooden spoon. His father carved it for them as a wedding gift, and he had stirred every pot of chili with it. In the bedroom Agnes chose the small wooden box where she keeps her mother's earrings. In the nursery, now a guest room, they chose their son Will's first pair of shoes. In the garage Ralph chose a screwdriver with a cracked handle. The living room gave them a photograph from the mantel. The attic gave them a tin of old postcards.
In the nursery Agnes held the little shoes for a long while with the quilt still folded on the shelf behind her. Ralph stood in the doorway and did not hurry her. Then she took a photograph of the quilt and added it to the crate, and the quilt went to a young neighbor named Rina, who was expecting a daughter.
The thing and the feeling
| The room | The one thing kept | The feeling it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen | The wooden spoon | Ralph's father, and the chili |
| Bedroom | The earring box | Agnes's mother |
| Nursery | Will's first shoes | The first year of the house |
| Garage | The cracked screwdriver | Ralph fixing things with Will |
| Living room | The mantel photograph | Every holiday |
| Attic | The tin of postcards | Where they have been |
Everything else went to neighbors and family.
You could…
- Walk each room and ask which one object tells its whole story.
- Photograph the rest of the room, shelves and all.
- Let a family member choose one more thing for you.
- Tell the stories of the things you give away to the people who receive them.
If you could take one thing from each room, what would it be? Write in with your list. A reader ready to walk into their first room could start from yours.
Tell us in the comments