A Lifeline Disguised As A Book

Excerpt from “The Book Nook”

I was burying my grandmother’s wedding ring in a shoebox when

Matt Paxton saved me.

Not literally; he wasn’t standing in my cluttered bedroom watching

me hide another treasure I couldn’t bear to look at but couldn’t throw away.

But his voice from the pages of “Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff” might as well

have been whispering over my shoulder: “The memories aren’t in the ring”.

After Mom died, I inherited her mother’s house and the archaeological layers of three

generations. I bought more storage bins. I rented a larger apartment. I developed a

sophisticated labeling system that would impress archivists. What I didn’t do was

process anything, emotionally or physically.

Then I found Paxton’s book, dog-eared and coffee-stained at a yard sale (irony noted).

This wasn’t the pristine philosophy of someone who’s always had their life together. This

was hard-won wisdom from the guy who’s helped clean actual hoarding disasters on

television, who’s sifted through the emotional wreckage of our relationships with stuff.

Paxton taught me to ask better questions. Not “Should I keep this?” but “How do I honor

this memory while living my life?” The difference changed everything.

I started with the wedding ring. Took a beautiful photograph. Wrote down the story.

Called my cousin who’d been closer to Grandma. Realized she’d been looking for this

exact heirloom to give her daughter.

One box became ten became thirty. Stories emerged. Laughter happened. Tears

flowed. The house began to breathe again.

This isn’t a book about organizing your closet. It’s about finding yourself beneath the

weight of possessions. Matt Paxton offers the messy, complicated truth that our stuff

matters because our stories matter, and he gives you permission to keep the latter while

finally releasing the former.