Monday, August 25, 2008

An exemption

As a 'master' age cyclist, i have acquired a lot of stuff over the years.  i need to make room for the new bike, so i have been cleaning out the garage, getting rid of stuff unused for years, and most all that has been tossed  has been non-bicycling related.  As a husband and father of two daughters, way too much stuff accumulates in a house over the years.  So after my youngest daughter moved back home, after accumulating her own amount of stuff being away at school and a year in a condo, even more stuff has bulged the walls of the garage, spare bedroom, and basement.  So, i proclaimed loudly one of those stupid edicts.... one of those proclamations that i didn't think through well enough in advance.  I proclaimed to all family members that if something comes into the house, two like items had to exit ... to the dump, or to the Goodwill bin, or the Salvation Army, or unloaded on eBay, or on freecycle.com. or somewhere else.  This came spilling out of my mouth because my wife was purchasing new shoes or pillows or something practical, and i was just at my limit.  I started to rant about the American way of life is all about consumerism and we buy too much stuff.  My new mantra is reduce, reuse, and recycle.  So, like i said, i clearly did not think this through because two weeks later i brought home my new Redline.  I proudly showed off the rig to all.  My wife agreed that it was quite lovely, and then calmly asked what two bikes are going to be tossed?  Yikes, i am now appealing to the Family board of directors for an exemption to the dumb-ass proclamation that i had made weeks earlier.  The Family board of directors consists of my wife, my two daughters and myself.  I get one vote, everyone else gets two votes.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hahaha - i was secretly worried that this situation would come up.  the argument i would use every time i needed new hockey equipment was that i needed the latest upgraded equipment because it was safer than what i had.  it's hard to argue with that!