I have had a storage locker in Toronto on and off over the past 20 years. And I just climbed back into my chair after falling off having just done the math as to what that has cost me over the years. Oy vey. Now that is a good business model!  I have always said that any business that relies on the insecurities of lawyers is a great business. Any business that relies on the misplaced sentimentality of people also seems to be a pretty good business model too! That may explain why there is a brand new multi-level storage locker business right behind La Bicicletta, the Toronto bike shop I patronize, which also seems to be a pretty good business model in that it serves the perceived inadequacies of people like me who think new gear will make up for not being a pro cyclist.

 

Back to my storage locker. It is a three metre by three metre unit that primarily houses furniture, including a full home office set that is way too big for any home office. It also stores some well used wicker outdoor furniture, two night tables, an entertainment unit and other dendrite of a life lived.

 

The furniture has been there for at least nine years and was being kept for the Boy and the Girl. Well, that is not going to happen.  Neither of them need or want it and even if they wanted it, neither has the space for it. And you all know of course that the value of furniture has been far exceeded by the cost of the storage. (Did I say this was a good business model?)     The good news is that I have sourced a good home for the furniture and I am just happy that it will be used.

 

And now, I have that aforementioned dendrite to clean out. I did the first box today. I brought it home and I opened it up and it contained treasures (or what I thought were once treasures)  that I had completely forgot about. Individually wrapped from the date they were moved from an apartment that the Boy and the Girl and I still refer to as “The Eldo” was a box full of lucite closing gifts from transactions gone by. The collection was a fraction of what it once was, at least as I recall. It looks like I had the good sense to jettison a number of them before now.

 

Once upon a time as a young securities lawyer, these were the be all and end all – a badge of honour to display in the office, and later to use as door stops.  As I unwrapped them one by one, they were in all shapes and sizes, and I will admit they brought smiles to my face as I recalled not the transactions so much themselves as the people involved in them. There were some corporate baseball caps as well. I took some pictures and sent them to a few people with the “Re line” of “look what I found”. These emails garnered a number of responses from “cool” to “antique” and more than a few, “So you are cleaning out the attic too I see.”

 

There were a few cool things like an old fashioned miner’s lantern and an engraved silver night table tray in much need of a good polish. And of course, many of the companies are no longer in existence, and sadly, reminding me of some people lost too soon as well.

 

As I dug down the layers of a career, I then came across the childhood trophies, thematically baseball, bowling and oratory (I could always speak, it seems) If I am honest, I found more meaning in the childhood baseball trophies than all of the deal toys. I put aside the two baseball trophies that were still in one piece and everything else was finally and rather unceremoniously disposed of. I figure I am just doing a favour to whoever down the road will have to do the same thing.

 

I will see what else is in the storage the coming days and no doubt it will give me a few smiles, chuckles and a few tears. And then these former treasures will be disposed of like the box of lucite. All that said, I am pretty sure that thereafter, I will sleep just fine.