Yes, I Fear I've Definitely Said Too Much

Mamacita says:  Several years ago, we cleaned out the garage because it was so full of  “stuff,” we couldn’t even park a car in there.

For a while, all was well. When the weather got cold, I parked the car in the garage and never had to scrape the windshield; it was great. We lived like. . . other people!

Then, our son moved from his large apartment into a studio apartment.

I can no longer park my car in the garage because it’s full of tables, chairs, lamps. . . . things that don’t fit in a studio apartment, but that are still nice furniture that he wants to keep for when he finishes school and moves back into a real apartment or house. Added to all of  his  stuff is more of his father’s;  my husband  is a pack rat and tends to accumulate things. He will try to tell you that a lot of it is mine but that just isn’t true.

Besides enough furniture to start a store, we have most of the usual garage-type things in our garage: cans of oil and gasoline, shovels, hoes, picks, garden hoses, file cabinets we haven’t looked into for years, tools, a freezer, did I mention our son’s stored furniture and boxes, and comic books.

One wall is solid comic books.

Some of them – the Marvels – are Tim’s.   The DC’s are mine.

I especially loved the Legion of Super-Heroes, and I bet most of you have never heard of that.

As you know, I’m no spring chicken, and by this stage even my dreams should have calmed down and become mature and stuff, but I’m still waiting. If I see that stage coming at me ahead of time, I’ll try to jump on it, but I’m making no promises. I’ve seen some of the people riding on that stage and I want no part of it; they look pretty boring to me.

I loved my DC comic books, and I still love them. I don’t love DC comic books NOW – I haven’t loved or bought any since they fired all the good artists (I loved you, Curt Swan) and hired a lot of guys who can’t color inside the lines or write a coherent story line – that would be since the early seventies, I’m guessing – but back when the artists were good and the writers were great, I never missed an issue. The squiggly-line stuff, not so much.  Actually, not at all.

And what do I sometimes dream about at night? On the good nights, that is?

I dream about Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy and Triplicate Girl and Braniac 5 and Mon-el and Phantom Girl and Shrinking Violet and Light Lass and Invisible Kid and Colossal Boy and Star Boy and Sun Boy and Ultra Boy and Dream Girl and Element Lad and Chameleon Boy and – dumbest hero ever – Bouncing Boy. And all the others.

And when I dream about them, I’m one of them. I’d tell you my name and describe my costume, but I fear I’ve already said too much.

I’m just an old lady woman, after all.

P.S.  A few months ago we had to rent a storage unit.  Sigh.  Does anybody have the phone number for Hoarders handy?

P.P.S.  Come on over and see for yourself.  Watch your step.


Comments

Yes, I Fear I've Definitely Said Too Much — 10 Comments

  1. I’m just about hoarded out of my own house, but only by my own stuff. For me it’s not the comic books, it’s the kids books I owned by the thousands when I taught school. I still teach a bit online, so it makes sense to have some here to ship to them so we work with matching books (good, interesting books!). But 15 or 20,000? I think that’s into Hoarderville.

    Actually, I just called a lady yesterday, and she’s going to come help me through unloading a ton of them. Small world. But keep your comics for as long as you can afford the storage space! I’m gonna miss the hell outta my books.

  2. I’m just about hoarded out of my own house, but only by my own stuff. For me it’s not the comic books, it’s the kids books I owned by the thousands when I taught school. I still teach a bit online, so it makes sense to have some here to ship to them so we work with matching books (good, interesting books!). But 15 or 20,000? I think that’s into Hoarderville.

    Actually, I just called a lady yesterday, and she’s going to come help me through unloading a ton of them. Small world. But keep your comics for as long as you can afford the storage space! I’m gonna miss the hell outta my books.

  3. I always thought Braniac 5 and Supergirl made a great “star-crossed” lovers story.

    Robin (and then Nightwing) has always been my favorite hero, followed closely by Captain America and Spider-Man. DC has had some great characters over the years, but I’ve always thought Marvel edged them out on stories that could be read by both children and adults (not so much now, though).

  4. I always thought Braniac 5 and Supergirl made a great “star-crossed” lovers story.

    Robin (and then Nightwing) has always been my favorite hero, followed closely by Captain America and Spider-Man. DC has had some great characters over the years, but I’ve always thought Marvel edged them out on stories that could be read by both children and adults (not so much now, though).

  5. I was a Spider-Man girl. I believe what spoke to me, especially as a child and teenager, was Peter Parker found himself with this incredible gift he didn’t ask for, an abusive boss, and a sense of duty that forced him into helping others, when all he really wanted to do was finish school, spend time with his girlfriend, and then get an everyday job.

    I was a gifted child. (Lordy, do I hate that phrase, now.) And I was pushed and pushed to do well at school, to the point of a nervous breakdown at 12. At the same time, my parents joined an HDO (nice term for a cult) and then the pressure was even worse.

    I felt trapped like Peter, doing the best I could, which never was good enough. I moved out when I turned 18, officially left the HDO at 23, and have spent the rest of my life scraping the crazy away.

    To top it off, my mom tossed all my comic books without asking. Then all my stuffed animals. She was the anti-hoarder. She is cluelessly evil.

  6. I was a Spider-Man girl. I believe what spoke to me, especially as a child and teenager, was Peter Parker found himself with this incredible gift he didn’t ask for, an abusive boss, and a sense of duty that forced him into helping others, when all he really wanted to do was finish school, spend time with his girlfriend, and then get an everyday job.

    I was a gifted child. (Lordy, do I hate that phrase, now.) And I was pushed and pushed to do well at school, to the point of a nervous breakdown at 12. At the same time, my parents joined an HDO (nice term for a cult) and then the pressure was even worse.

    I felt trapped like Peter, doing the best I could, which never was good enough. I moved out when I turned 18, officially left the HDO at 23, and have spent the rest of my life scraping the crazy away.

    To top it off, my mom tossed all my comic books without asking. Then all my stuffed animals. She was the anti-hoarder. She is cluelessly evil.

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