The Stuff of a Life

May 9, 2023

We moved to Somaliland with 7 suitcases, 1 guitar, 4 carry-ons, and 4 personal items. I still feel shock when I realize we moved to Somaliland with toddler twins and did not pay for extra luggage or ship a container. We have never paid for extra luggage (long-term sojourner humble-brag).

I remember saying, “Well, people eat food and aren’t naked there, so we’ll be able to find what we need.”

This was in the days of 70-pound luggage, not 50-pounds. And, we totally weighted down those carryons. We even carried heavy things in our pockets. I put my son’s backpack on him and he literally tipped straight over backward and lay, flailing, on the ground.

Somehow over twenty years stuff accumulated. Almost like stuff gave birth to stuff. How did this happen?

It happens by doing this multiple times:

Do this enough times and voila…a house full of stuff.

Last week we held our sale. Sojourners know these sales well. I sent out the list of items and within thirty seconds my phone exploded with requests. We joke that these moments turn people into vultures and I can say that because I have very much been that vulture. If you don’t jump on the good stuff immediately, it is gone. As soon as a rumor starts that someone is leaving, we start scoping out their possessions. That is how I got the only 220-volt waffle maker in Djibouti at the time, way back 19 years ago (to the great envy of other chefs). It is how I got a fabulous set of weights and an elliptical. No shame.

As people started to purchase things and dig through our massive FREE pile, I had flashes of memories.

The friend who sipped coffee with me in those chairs.

The day I bought those platters with blue and white flowers in the Somaliland market and the day I left them behind when we fled and the day they turned up again on my doorstep in Djibouti.

The afternoon I spent driving to every single dukaan (store) in the city to find marbles for my son who needed them to play with friends at recess.

The day my youngest, then a toddler, tried to force her head through the bars on that bed and got stuck.

All the Thanksgiving Chicken Dinners at that table and the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and the card games and the birthday singing.

The novels and nonfiction books that brought me out of this world to another space in my imagination.

The family we bought that tea set from and the family they bought it from and the woman they bought it from.

At first, as people scanned through our things, I felt rather exposed and a little protective. Maybe we’d made a mistake, maybe we should shut it all down and stay here forever. It feels easier in many ways to stay.

Then I saw a woman pick up one of the platters. I told her that was from Somaliland and that it was my first set of dishes in the Horn of Africa. She had just arrived a month ago. She beamed. “I’m glad to know some history, it helps me feel connected here.”

I started to say to people when they grabbed certain items, “Hey, can I tell you about that? Can I tell you about the students who gave that frisbee to me, the woman who sewed that curtain, the kids who played that game all night long, the reason there is an iron-shaped burn on that rug?”

I understood then. I could bless people with stories and with my things as they set up their new lives, or add to their already established lives. I didn’t pester everyone! But once in a while, I gave some background, and I took notes for myself.

We’re leaving but our things remain. I still go to friend’s houses here and see tables or plates from a long-gone friend, and I tell the new owner about the previous owners. Now those previous owners are us.

I wonder what kinds of stories will be told about our stuff? What meals will be served at the table? What conversations will happen on the couch? What language lessons will be studied using our books and materials? What muscles will build with the weights?

Everything has a story and everyone has a story. What stories do your possessions tell?

(p.s. still for sale: my CPR/First Aid training equipment and several curtains and books and books and books!)