Replacement Values
During 2009, the beloved said many times, the economy will improve eventually because people will be required to replace things. Cars will wear out, washing machines will die, clothes will become threadbare or at least unfashionable. It seems that the economy is rebounding. Slowly, but as a whole we are out of the doldrums of 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Consumer purchasing drives the US economy, a topic worthy of further exploration, but today I am thinking about two consumer purchases on my horizon. Two things that my mother bought me in the last years of her life are wearing out. One is my office chair. My mother did not directly purchase this for me, rather sent me money for a holiday to buy myself the chair. It is a basic office chair purchased from Staples, but it is a good office chair. Not one of the $100 ones that fall apart after a year. No bolts have fallen out of it. The wheels roll well. It is solid. It is now eight years old. The cushioning is flattened; the fabric is fraying. I spend a lot of time in this chair. I am thinking that I need to replace it. After many years of comfort, it is becoming uncomfortable. Yet I am reticent to replace it; it is something my mother bought me, and it made her happy to buy it for me. I told this to a friend and she said, so you want to be uncomfortable to hold on to something from your mother? That seems absurd. In fact, it makes perfect sense. My mother loved a bit of misery. I think it would charm her to know I am sitting in an uncomfortable chair in her memory.
The other item my mother bought for me in the last years of her life was my set of bath towels. We went to Macys together one year when she visited me in Maryland. She loved Macys. She loved buying things from Macys. I was happy to have a need she could fulfill. They are thick wonderful towels. We bought four bath towels and four hand towels. I’ve been using them for probably five years. They are starting to show signs of wear. A corner of one is discolored from the laundry. I do not know quite how that happened, but a little bit of gray in one corner. The fibers once soft and supple are hardening a bit from use and washing. The need to replace them is not imminent, but I am thinking it would be nice to have a new towel or two. I know these will give our household years of continued use: gym towels, Bikram yoga towels, then drying dogs, mopping up household spills. So I know replacing them does not mean discarding them, but still I pause before buying any new towels. I am not quite ready to give up the daily use of something my mother bought me, knowing that she will buy nothing else for me in my lifetime.
Eventually, I will make these two purchases and provide some more fuel to the US economy. For now, though, I am waiting, delaying, withholding my money. Not for frugality but for memory.
Finally, on the topic of replacement, words of advice about insurance. A friend and her family just lost everything in a house fire. Tragic, but they had a replacement value insurance policy. Make sure you do whether you are a renter or an owner. Replacement value makes a difference, my friends. Invest in yourself; it makes a difference.
Filed under: personal writing Tagged: chairs, insurance, mother, mourning, towels
