Last week, my wife found something that had made its way upstairs from the basement.

That wasn't particularly surprising.

We have been helping a 93-year-old friend reclaim her home from nearly fifty years of accumulation. The upstairs is now clean, comfortable and manageable. The basement is another story. And apparently, the basement occasionally sends representatives upstairs.

A container. A bag. Something that might be useful someday.

My wife had predicted this would happen. Cleaning the house was one thing. Keeping it clean would be another. So once a week, she goes over and does some light cleaning and gently deals with whatever has begun accumulating again.

I have learned something through this experience.

When you look at an object and see garbage, it is remarkably...

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