One of the big topics of elder convo that comes up is stuff — and where we can all shove it as we get older. That wedding china? Crystal? Silver trays? Talk to the hand. The yoots don’t want it. I aim to purge it all during the next few decades and at the very least, make sure there are only a few, meaningful things I want to dump on my kids. An older relative recently offered one of the kids a random object that is of no practical use and has zero sentimental value. It was just this thing, this thing that had been ascribed an emotional appraisal. A thing someone I love now has to assert some unnecessary responsibility for. It makes me a little annoyed and angry, and at the very least compelled to make sure I don’t do that. I’m all for sentimental items, but let’s try to keep the inventory list short. Do we really think our kids will look at our mindless Target purchase and cherish it for all time because we threw it in our cart on an eff-it-I-want-it shoppping whim long ago? I have very few things I want to foist on the kids for safe-keeping. This table is one of them. It’s been the epicenter of our house for nearly 30 years. It was a wedding gift to my grandmother’s parents, Addie and Albert Biedenharn. Family has been gathered around it for good times ever since. It’s not fancy, but it has heart and is useful. Lord, please help me remember standards when I’m purging and make sure I don’t dump pressure on the next generation with ridiculous, reckless abandon. #GrandPlans