Monday, May 19, 2008

In Case of an Emergency...

My Mom lives in constant fear of "the end of the world as we know it".

No really... she does.

I understand from my research on OCD Hoarding, that most hoarders feel a "need" to save things for later. Because you never know. I mean it's very likely that the day after you throw out that rubberband collection you will find yourself in serious and immediate need of 2000 rubberbands. Same goes for the 100 or so yogurt containers you have been saving... etc. etc.

So it's really no surprise that my Mom has grasped a hold of the whole "national disaster/emergency/end of the world" idea. This is the perfect reason to save just about anything. In theory, just about anything you can think of might be useful in an emergency.

To be fair to my Mom, if there is a disaster/emergency I hope I can make it over to her place. Because that will be her time to shine! Plus she might have something I will need.

Never mind that she lived her whole life in chaos, never making close friendships, subjecting her children to anxiety-ridden lives, and so on and so forth.

It will all be worth it...

living like this. To get this shot (above), I just reached my arm into the room with the camera and pushed the button. There really was no other safe way to do it. This used to be my brothers' room, the bunkbeds are still in there somewhere. Anyways, the boxes and buckets that you can see are filled with food storage items.

And here is the reason my Mom has been bringing over food to store in my extra freezer... This is a BIG freezer and it is completely full! I'm tempted to tell you about the time (last summer) my Sis and I cleaned out her old freezer. But I just ate.

One last pic. This is a view of the closet in my brothers' old room. Also full of food storage. You know what would be nice? It would be nice if when family came home to visit they could actually stay in one of the three extra bedrooms at Mom's place.


That's why I bought a house in the same town as my parents. So that we can have normal family get togethers and people can have a place to stay when they come in from out of town. Don't get me wrong, I like it. I like hosting parties and having guests over, It's what I dreamed of doing my whole life... Escaping the hoard, inviting people over.

But, deep down I know that my Mom would like it too. She loves her family and treasures the times we are all together. She is a sweet and wonderful Grandma.

But she can't (or won't?) let any of her precious "stuff" go. Not gonna' happen. Never, no how, no way. So I just sit here and type, letting my emotions take me where they will. Hoping that someday it will all be better.

And when that emergency strikes, I'm gonna put on my boots and hike up to Mom's place to get a bite to eat and watch her glory in her "preparedness".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My room was filled with food items in case of an emergency as a teenager, after the pantry, kitchen and my brothers old rooms could not hold anymore. The entire space under my bed, my wardrobes and cupboards were filled with food staples and emergency supplies. I have never told anyone about this, it is the craziest world to live in as a teenager.