What Is Hoarding?

So far our day has been good.  We swam in the pool the is morning and then went to the downtown parade.  Our town is just like Mayberry RFD, we even have a street dance the night before the 4th of July.  We had pondered cooking out but because of the heat we decided to run up to Hardees and get one of their Thickburgers.  They are so good and so close, we weren’t too excited about the price to feed us all but you can’t have everything!  My youngest wanted a Happy Meal from McDonalds so I got him that, chicken nugget, fries, and a coke, plus an Ice Age II or III toy.  At Hardees I got the original Thickburger, no catsup extra mustard, mt husband got the Monster burger combo large sized with a Diet Coke, and my middle child got a Soft Chicken Taco combo meal with sweet tea.  It was really good, then we laid down for a nap, got up and Carlton put the ribs in the oven, I cooked green beans with new potatoes and bacon.  I made a quick desert of cubed pound cake, frozen strawberries and cool whip.  It was good and light. We have all gotten our church baths that we get every Saturday night.  Carlton has gone onto bed, me and the kids are waiting for the sun to go down so we can go watch firework.  They start at 9:00 pm or dusk whichever comes first.  It is now 8:13 pm.  I am thinking ahead to make sure I have everything for Sunday School tomorrow.

We moved a lot.  That in and of itself can make a child want to hold to as much as she can.  There was also much fear involved.  Where are we moving to?  Will the people be nice to me?  What if I lose some of my things in the move.  It was an unstable home and I am sure that contributed to my fear.  There wasn’t much I had control over, but in my fragile mind, I thought if I could keep up with my little treasures everything would be fine.  I was a classic seashell collector, a classic acorn collector, a classic rock collector, etc. and the thought of losing any one of these was more than I could bear.

One of my regrets thus far in my 45 years of life is I wish I could have known I was a hoarder earlier.  Knowing what is wrong is more than half the battle of getting better.  It has been a difficult, confusing, life and until now I had no answers.  It is my hope to help you.