February 23. 2015
The apartment owned by the Collyer brothers,
How do you know you are officially a hoarder? When you find you’ve got two copies of the E.L. Doctorow biography of the most famous hoarders of all time: the Collyer brothers.
Scary.
I’ve pulled out yet another bag – at least – of books that will go to the library with their little buddies. And I dusted the two bookcases that are now housing my remainders. It’s been really interesting looking at the books that have time traveled with me through no conscious thought of my own. They simply kept finding their way into the boxes that packed up and came along every time I moved. In some cases, like with my high school books, they started in Michigan, went to Illinois, then Michigan again, then New York’s Upper West Side, on to Washington Heights, and finally to the Bronx where I am afraid we must part ways. I can’t imagine thinking twice about this and I wonder how it took so long.
I am also proud to say I stepped up to volunteer to help out someone who has asked for help. I told my friend just last week that nobody asks for help unless they need it. So, I am donating a week of my time in May to help and I feel really good about this.
And PS? That hoarder book wasn’t the only one I found multiple copies of – there’s more and I know now it’s because I never put like objects together. I bought second copies of books I wanted to read because I had such a random organization to my library, I didn’t even know I already had it. And probably hadn’t read it.
The Backpack Press 