[TR] gifts of Triumph or anything else

[David Friedlander]

Enjoyed your post, Ed! From-the-heart stuff, for sure. I'd bet many of us
share your views and experiences...

Dave
Maine

On Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:36 PM Fisher, Ed <edwd at ti.com wrote:

> I’ve read many articles regarding the next generations and their debt
> after leaving college, wanting to retire earlier, disdain for sitting in
> traffic, leaving smaller footprints on the planet with tiny houses and
> such, not having heirlooms or anything of such to drag around as they move,
> search for work, transition through different parts of their lives.  While
> living in a tiny house does not appeal to me I can see the benefits of
> them.  Less pollution, less mortgage, less land required, some even being
> mobile.  While I enjoy driving, mostly because I learned it on open roads
> in the 1960’s, it doesn’t have the same romance when sitting in traffic
> here in Dallas where one has to drive quite a ways to get to open roads.
> While I appreciate the few antiques that I’ve gathered over the years they
> do take a lot of space, and I will have to find something to do with them
> before I pass away.  In that respect they are a small burden I guess.
>
>
>
> According to business magazines, the resale shops, consignment shops,
> antique stores and such are not doing well because there is a generation
> that does not want all of that stuff.  It makes sense really, as they grew
> up with everyday things that were cheap, semi-disposable, and no love lost
> when discarded.  I grew up poor revering and respecting the things that
> were hard-fought and gathered by immigrant grandparents.  A broken dish was
> a big deal as there weren’t ready replacements.  I’m ever so grateful to
> have been given the gift of early poverty.  That said, our cars polluted
> the air, our factories fouled the rivers (where I grew up the Cuyahoga
> actually caught on fire), and our wastes have been piling up on this planet
> with our excesses.  No shaming, no blaming, no political content, just a
> viewpoint, and one shared by a younger generation that wants to do things
> differently.  Good for them I say, and when it all comes down to it my
> stuff is just ‘stuff’.  My son grew up earning his own nickels and dimes,
> learning how to manage his own money, and how to pay for and repair (even
> paint) his own ride.  We shared those moments and as such they were
> important to at least me, although he did tell me as an adult that now he
> understood why I held firm on those many fronts.  That was all I could ever
> hope for when he thought me a hard-ass through his teenage years.  Now he
> lives in a high-rise apartment in Miami with his wonderful wife and has
> explained why he won’t be buying a house in that locale.  I get it.  There
> is a 1965 Mustang that I restored years ago and he knows it is awaiting him
> when he does buy a house, if ever.  If not, we can agree to give it to a
> charity and perhaps it can do some good that way.  He’s a giving kid.
>
>
>
> We aren’t missing anything wondering where our stuff will go.  It doesn’t
> have the same ‘meaningfulness’ to them as it did to us.  I’ve got a
> half-dozen other cars that will need to go (did I mention my personal
> excesses?) and I hope to gift them to good causes that can use the cash,
> or, to teach some youngsters the art of repair as I did out of my garage.
> I won’t need them in time, my son won’t want them, understandably so, and
> therefore since I don’t want to be buried in them, or buried period, they
> can go to good home(s)/organizations.  I’ve had my fun with them, and have
> been blessed to own them, and have memorable times with all of it, and so
> it goes.  Oh, and in case you are thinking that any of this has or will be
> easy on me I would tell of the times that my wife has finally refused to
> hang up a pair of my drawers on the clothesline because of the rips/tears.
> Sometimes I will go out and rescue them for a few more rounds, other times
> I will tell her I am going to throw them in the trash and I’ll ask if she
> wants to say a few words over the ceremony.  She rolls her eyes, I chuckle,
> but it is only partly in jest.  Growing up with nothing will do that to ya.
>
>
>
> Ed
>
>
>
> Dallas, Tx
> ** triumphs at autox.team.net **
>
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/triumphs
> http://www.team.net/archive
>
> Unsubscribe/Manage:
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/triumphs/forzion7@gmail.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/triumphs/attachments/20181218/486b0a9e/attachment.html>