Unimaginable Treasure Chapter Two

Here it is, the second chapter of my new story. It’s called Unimaginable Treasure. Please know, that I will never judge anyone from holding on certain things. So there’s no need to feel embarrassed about it. We are all humans, and we are doing our best. I am not one to judge or express shame among anyone. Please feel free to provide me with any feedback. I will be posting a chapter every Wednesday. Although I am a bit late with posting this week. I apologize for that I was just thinking about what I should write next. I can’t wait to start writing chapter three of this story. I hope you like it.

For those of you who will like to catch up or just reread the first chapter of the story, click here, threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/unimaginable-treasure/

Chapter Two

They entered Ben’s room and it was fairly organized for the most part. He had two dirty mugs on his night stand, but it was fairly cleaned. Although he could have used a good dusting.

Sophie sneezed loudly.

“Bless you.” Ben said, handing her a tissue. “Sorry, I should dust more frequently.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Said Sophie.

“So where should we start?” Lisa asked as she made a spot for her tea cup on his desk. Ben and Sophie then placed their cups and the plate of cookies beside Lisa’s tea cup.

“For me I think it is easiest to start with the closet, and the clothes. I recommend that you start with the things you don’t have much attachment with first. That way you can build up the strength to get rid of more things, including your sentimental items.” Sophie announced as Ben opened his closet.

“Hm. This is interesting. For starters I have never see you wear this shirt before.” Sophie confessed. She was surprised to see a tie dye shirt stashed away in his closet.

“Okay, well I just thought, I’ll wear it for whenever my aunt comes over. She bought it a few years ago.” Ben admitted, as Lisa laughed.

“Oh, my word! I can’t picture you having that shirt.”

“No, if you haven’t worn it a year, it goes. There are so many people in need, and would love to have this shirt.” Sophie explained.

“This is so much fun. I’m going to quickly grab a reusable bag from the kitchen. I’ll be right back. Does anyone want anything?” Lisa offered.

“Perhaps, you can boil the kettle, if you don’t mind? Maybe in a few minutes you can make us more tea. Cool?” Ben suggested.

Lisa then departed the room.

“I love that girl.” Ben said with the biggest smile on his face.

“I know that! I’m happy that she has found someone as amazing as you.” Sophie replied.

Lisa came back and began placing all of the clothes that Ben no longer wanted in the bags.

“I think the kettle finished brewing. I’ll go make us another cup.” Lisa announced as she carefully carried their mugs downstairs.

“So I see that you have three suits and jackets to match. I think that is a bit much. I think you should see if any one of these sets fits you. Then decide from there.” Sophie ordered, as she removed his suits from their hangers and placed them in his hands.

“I know that this one is too small. I actually forgot that I had this. But this one is my favourite. And I also like this one, too. Is that okay?” Ben asked as he grabbed another suit.

“Well, it depends. If you were to see this in a store, would you buy it?” Sophie asked.

“Hm…” Ben began to ponder. “I would want to buy this one, but I don’t think I would buy this one.”

“Okay, that’s great.” Sophie said as Lisa had brought up Sophie’s and Ben’s cups of tea. She had to go back down to the kitchen for her cup.

Lisa came back up with her tea, and she had curled up on his bed.

“Wait, are you really getting rid of your suits. But your parents spent a lot of money on those?” Lisa wondered.

“Yes, it would appear like they have, but to be fair, one of them no longer fits. And secondly, it would be expensive for him to keep it.” Sophie explained.

“What do you mean? I don’t get it.” Lisa answered.

“Because it will be taking up space in the closet. And someone else can benefit by having this suit. This sophisticated suit will make someone happy, especially this is something not everyone can afford.” Sophie confessed.

“That is an interesting way of explaining things.” Lisa said.

“Now, that you say that, I think I might add a few more shirts.” Ben admitted, removing clothes from their hangers.

“This is awesome!” Sophie squealed.

“This is making me happy knowing that I am helping someone else.” Ben admitted.

“Next, we should see if you have any winter accessories, like extra coats, scarves, etc.” Sophie said, grabbing a cookie.

Ben grabbed a container at the bottom of his closet. He went through it, and followed Sophie’s rule of only keeping two of everything. She explained that if he had to wash something, he would have an extra to wear if he needed to go out.

After sorting through this container, he ended up giving away several things. He had six different jackets, and he realized that he should only need two jackets. He donated a bunch of shoes as well. He didn’t need five sneakers. He had kept a pair of waterproof sneakers, when he realized that his boots would suffice. Sophie had told Ben that he should set aside his winter accessories from his clothes, although he didn’t ask why he needed to separate it from his other belongings.

Sophie suggested that he go through his bed sheets. A lot of people can use these — more than we realize. She told him to put his bed sheets next to his winter accessories.

Lisa was observing Sophie’s method of how to declutter.

“Sophie, you are amazing! His closet is really starting to look more spacious already.” Lisa expressed.

“Thanks, and we’re just getting started.” Sophie admitted.

“I’m so happy with this process.” Ben confessed.

“We can probably work on Lisa’s room next weekend. I’m really glad you two are on board. The donation week is in two weeks. Perhaps, you two can talk to your parents and see what they are willing to donate, as well?” Sophie asked with sincerity hoping that their parents were willing to help.

“Oh no! It’s already 10 o’clock. Ben, you have to drive us home, it’s already passed curfew.” Lisa said with frustration.

“I feel incredibly bad but I won’t be able to wash my tea set before I leave. But we’ll be back tomorrow. Perhaps, that can be your homework for tonight.” Sophie announced.

“Sure, thing. I will take good care of it, for the night.” Ben promised, as he was grabbing the car keys.

Ben’s parents were nice enough to let Ben borrow the family car from time to time. Sophie and Lisa grabbed their purses and walked out of the room.

As they were putting on their shoes, Sophie said, “I couldn’t help but notice, but you have six umbrellas!”

“That I didn’t realize, but maybe I’ll work on that later.” Ben said, as he locked the front door. They were suddenly hit by a chilly breeze, that caused the fallen leaves to dance with the wind. It was also a bit foggy, too.

Ben started the car, and he drove to Sophie’s house, and thanked her for all of her help.

“Thank you so much, Ben! I really appreciated you driving us home. It sure beats walking in this.” Sophie said as she opened the car door, and walked towards her house.

“I feel really good about myself, and all of my progress.” Ben said.

“I’m proud of you, too.” Lisa said, giving Ben a quick peck on the cheek.

When Sophie unlocked her door, she gave them a wave as Ben resumed driving. Ben was raised to always wait until the person he is dropping off is safe in their house before driving away. Thankfully, Sophie and Lisa lived within a few blocks from each other.

“I can only imagine how many bags I am going to get rid of.” Lisa wondered.

Ben and Lisa arrived at her house, he ended up walking her to the door, and kissed her good night.

“Good night, I love you.” Lisa announced.

“Good night, I love you, too.” Ben said kissing her, before she went into her house.

Ben drove home, and began washing the dirty dishes from his room. He even made a vow to never leave his room messy, again.

After all that, he decided to go to bed.

***

Sophie woke up and she immediately called Lisa.

A few rings went by before she heard Lisa pick up her phone.

“Hey?” Lisa had said sluggishly.
“Oh, did I wake you? Sorry.” Sophie apologized.
“It’s seven thirty.” Lisa asked as she slowly sat up in her bed.
“I know, but in the morning is the best time to get things done!”
“I guess so, it just isn’t me, but… What’s up?”
“I organized my winter gear, so I was thinking that Ben could pick me up, so I can bring my winter gear with me to your place. As can Ben.”

Lisa didn’t seem to respond since she had nodded off.

“Uhm, hello?” Sophie asked.
“Yeah.” Lisa said as she yawned.
“Oh, okay, you know what I’ll call you back in a few hours. Bye.” Sophie said as she hung up.

***

Sophie had called Ben asking him to pack all of his winter gear that he no longer wanted, and she had asked if he can pick her up before they headed off to Lisa’s house.

They eventually arrived at Lisa’s. Ben and Sophie left their containers of winter accessories in the car. They made sure it wasn’t too early for her, since she isn’t the biggest morning person, especially on the weekends.

“Let’s go through your winter gear. We’re going to be doing something special today.” Sophie announced.
“Okay, I actually have a lot of winter gear. Like more than I thought I did.” Lisa said, all embarrassed.

Ben sat on Lisa’s unmade bed as Sophie began digging through the piles of winter coats and scarves. Lisa was kind of the messy one.

“That’s okay. I don’t judge anyone for having too much stuff. My Grandma’s house was filled with stuff. Like floor to ceiling of things. So I understand.” Sophie explained.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Lisa said.
“It’s okay. I just wished I could have been there for her more. I feel like I could have helped.” Sophie confessed.

There was a short pause, as Lisa and Ben didn’t know what to say to Sophie.

“I have never seen you wear this before!” Sophie exclaimed, as she held up a coat to Lisa, so she could see it.

“Ooh, I was looking for that!” Lisa said.
“Were you actually though?” Sophie asked.
“I guess not, no. But it looks cute.” Lisa expressed.
“Yes, but if you haven’t worn it in a year, you should let it go.” Sophie explained.
“Well, I guess if you put that way, okay, I’ll get rid of it.” Lisa replied as she set her coat aside in a pile filled with her other coats she was letting go.

Sophie came across as a hat with a price tag on it.

“You bought something that you haven’t worn, yet?” Sophie asked as Lisa looked guilty.

“It was on sale, and I thought I needed it.” Lisa added.
“Did you know that things are 100% off if you don’t buy it?” Sophie asked.
“I guess I never really thought about it like that before.” Lisa revealed.

When a container became empty, Ben began folding all of Lisa’s coats and her other accessories she no longer needed.

“Now, you officially own two of everything for this winter.” Sophie happily said.

“Now what?” Lisa asked.

“We have to load it up in the car. We’re going on a mission.” Sophie answered.

As they were starting to put on their gear. It began snowing — the first snowfall of the season.

“You ladies stay here, let me put the container in the car, and I just got to brush off of the snow on my windshield.” Ben said as he was carrying out Lisa’s container.

“You should be so proud of yourself. We’re about to make a lot of people warm and happy.” Sophie said.

“Yeah, I think so.” Lisa said, as she was locking up her house. Sophie and Lisa carefully walked to the end of the driveway to Ben’s car. Lisa sat up front, and Sophie sat in the back seat next to their three containers of stuff.

“Ben, do you remember the plan?” Sophie asked.
“Yes, I sure do.” He replied.

Ben drove them to the downtown mall, because there were a lot of homeless people who looked really cold. Most people didn’t have a lot of stuff. They parked the car in a designated parking lot, as they each carried a container.

“What are we going to do with all of our stuff?” Lisa asked.
“We’re going to give it away to others.” Sophie said.

They began handing out their clothes that they no longer wanted anymore.

They walked up to a middle aged woman, who had a walker filled with miscellaneous items. She was wearing a pair of gloves that had several holes in them.

“Hi there.” Sophie said as she walked up to her.

The lady looked scared.

“It’s okay. We’re not trying to hurt you, or take anything from you.” Sophie said, as she was taking out a pair of pink gloves for her.

“Here, we thought you might like these.” Sophie explained, as the lady smiled when Sophie gave her a pair of new gloves.

“Thank you so much.” She said as she had put them on.

“I wish there is something more I can to do to help everyone. It breaks my heart knowing that there are people who are living out in the streets all cold, and lonely.” Sophie expressed.

“Yes, but these gloves will make a difference.” She said.

“It isn’t much, but I have some change for you, too.” Sophie said, as she pulled out a $5 bill.

“Sweetie, I love your kindness, but I don’t need it. There’s someone else in the world that needs it more than me.” She said, smiling at Sophie and her friends.

“Okay, I guess so. It was nice to meet you. Stay safe out here.” Sophie said as she put her money away back in her pocket.

“You, too.” The lady said, as she admired her gloves.

The three friends walked around to see more people.

“Where did you get that money from?” Lisa wondered.
“It’s from my Grandma’s inheritance.” Sophie answered.
“This is really noble of you, Sophie.” Ben said.
“Yeah, but I want to help people.” Sophie explained.

They came across a father and a daughter sitting in the cold, as his daughter was in his lap.

“Hi, there. You look so cold. Let me help you.” Sophie said, as she was digging through her container to find some extra blankets to give them.

“Here, this might help.” Sophie said, as she handed it to the father.

“Thank you so much!” He said, as he was unfolding it to cover his daughter with it.

Ben was digging through his container and he gave him a hat.

“You are really nice. Her mother was so sick, and I had just lost my job at the time. And between paying for her medicine, her funeral costs, we just couldn’t stay ahead with the bills.” He explained.

“I’m really sorry to hear that. I know it must be hard. I lost my Grandma not too long ago.” Sophie explained.

“I don’t even know what to do anymore.” He said, as he began crying.

“Here, I know it isn’t much, but I hope you can get some soup with it.” Sophie said, handing him a $20 bill.

“You have no idea how much this means to me.” He said, as tears rolled his cheeks.

“Trust me, one day I will make this world a better place.” Sophie promised.

They spent the rest of the afternoon, helping and talking to various people. Lisa was really proud to have Sophie as her best friend, since she has the biggest heart.

They have enjoyed helping people throughout the day. They had learned a lot from other people. They were glad that they were able to let go of these things and make others smile, and keep them warm. They gave others some change as well.

“Sophie, you’re amazing! I am really glad to have a best friend like you. Thank you for encouraging me to get rid of this stuff that was just stashed away in a container. I feel so proud of myself.” Lisa expressed.

“Thank you. I am proud of you both.” Sophie said, as they carried their empty containers back to the car.

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Unimaginable Treasure Chapter One

Here it is, the first chapter of my new story. It’s called Unimaginable Treasure. Please know, that I will never judge anyone from holding on certain things. So there’s no need to feel embarrassed about it. We are all humans, doing our best. I am not one to judge or express shame among anyone. I hope you like it. Please feel free to provide me with any feedback. I will be posting a chapter every Wednesday.

Chapter One

It was a chilly Friday afternoon in late September. The leaves began changing their colours, and some trees were completely bare, whereas other trees still had the majority of their leaves. Lisa had just got home from school a half hour ago. She was worried about her friend, Sophie who wasn’t at school earlier.

Sophie was briskly walking through a pile of leaves, where she saw her friend, Lisa reading some kind of scary book on her porch. She had saw Lisa drinking a cup of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. Sophie can tell Lisa didn’t make it too long ago, since she was able to see the steam rising from the red mug.

Upon Sophie’s arrival, Lisa put her book away, as Sophie sat down on the bench beside her. Lisa knew something was wrong because she noticed that Sophie’s face was red and her eyes were puffy and glossy.

“What’s wrong?” Lisa asked.
“It’s my Grandma…” Sophie began, but couldn’t hold back her tears long enough to tell Lisa.

Lisa began hugging Sophie, but that just made Sophie sob even more.

“Shhh… It’s okay. We’ll get through this together.” Lisa promised, hugging her tighter.

The last time Sophie had called her, she had told Lisa that her Grandma had suffered a stroke, and she wasn’t doing well. Lisa was really sad for Sophie, but at the same time she didn’t know how to comfort her friend since she had never lost someone close to her before.

“Here, you need this more than I do.” Lisa confessed as she handed Sophie her mug of hot chocolate.

“Thanks.” Sophie said, grabbing the mug and began taking sips from it, as she was wiping away her tears.

“Listen, let’s have the best weekend ever! And then after that we will seriously have to study for our history test this Friday.” Lisa declared.

“Yeah, sounds like fun. But I think on Sunday I have to be with my family, to help make funeral arrangements for my Grandma.” Sophie announced.

“Understandable, let’s have a lot of fun. I can even cancel my date with Ben tomorrow. I can see if he wants to reschedule until Sunday. For now, I’m all yours. Let’s turn the frown upside down!” Lisa said hopefully.

“You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate you doing that for me.” Sophie said, realizing that she has the best friend in the whole world.

Lisa and Sophie have been friends since they were toddlers. They first met each other in preschool.

They had spent the weekend doing many fun things like staying up all night, making sundaes, painting their nails and reading the latest gossip from Hollywood.

After all that fun, Sophie had to leave and get ready to spend time with her family. They needed to discuss the funeral arrangements, and get the photos ready for the funeral room.

Sophie had thanked Lisa for giving her an amazing weekend. Lisa was happy that she got to help Sophie. Sophie is an only child, and all of her cousins live in another city, and weren’t planning on coming in until Sunday morning. Sophie was more than grateful to have Lisa help her through this difficult time.

Sophie was surrounded by her family as they had made arrangements for her late Grandmother. Lisa got to hang out with Ben since she had rescheduled their date.

***

The next few days were filled with sorrow for Sophie attending her Grandma’s funeral. Lisa and Ben made study cards and started studying for their history test.

Eventually Sophie’s family went to her Grandma’s house. They didn’t realize that her house was jam packed with various items. Every room except her kitchen and dining room was filled with stuff floor to ceiling. They finally realized that’s why their Grandma didn’t allow visitors anymore.

Sophie’s father, David, the son of her Grandma began cleaning up her house. Sophie looked around and she knew that she wanted her Grandma’s recipe books, her Grandma made the best cherry cheesecake. She had talked to her cousins and wondered if they could make a three way split between their Grandma’s doll collection.

Her family agreed to take some things from the house. Sophie loved drinking tea, and her Grandma had various collections of matching tea cups and tea pots, as well as the milk jug, and sugar holder. She had a collection set in roses, teddy bears and plain porcelain. Sophie had her eye on all three sets.

Some of the things that her Grandma had kept were a lot of paper from her son and daughter’s school years. She had kept a lot of photos and cards from various holidays and birthdays. Her fridge was completely covered with magnets from all of the places she had travelled to. She had a lot of clothes. Despite having a walk-in closet, two dressers it just wasn’t enough. She had kept her clothes in the spare room, too. Her jewelry spilled all across the top of her dressers, and her countless jewelry boxes.

Her family had spent two weeks shredding papers, donating the clothes, the jewelry after they had all agreed to keep a few things each.

Sophie had hung out a lot with Lisa and Ben. She had showcased all of her cool new things that she got from her Grandma’s house. Lisa admired the porcelain tea set collection a lot.

After all of that, they moved on to the next phase which was to donate the furniture, clean the carpets and floors which hadn’t been seen for several years. The last time David remembered seeing the floors was when he had helped his mom deal with his Dad’s belongings after he passed away seven years ago.

Next David, and his sister, Claire found a realtor, because they wanted to list her house on the market, and hopefully sell it by Christmas.

After a few weeks had passed, Sophie realized that her parents were going through all of their belongings, and updating their wills. It was now the middle of October and all of the leaves had fallen to the ground.

“Hey, what are you up to?” Sophie asked.
“Well, having to clean up after both of my parents. It’s a lot of work. My Dad didn’t have a lot of stuff, but my mother had a bunch of things. I don’t want you to be left with this burden after we pass away.” David confessed, as he was filling up another bag of his belongings. His wife, Samantha was doing the same thing.

There was a small pause. Sophie was processing what her Dad had just said.

“What are you going to do with all of these things?” Sophie wondered.
“We’re going to donate these. There are various donation sites around the city that accept donations.” Samantha answered.
“I think that maybe Grandma was lonely, so instead of filling her home with memories she filled it with things. Like maybe that was her way of remembering us. Hear me out, she had kept yours and Aunt Claire’s school work throughout the years. It’s like her way of holding onto you.” Sophie explained.
“Yes, that can be a fair assessment of what happened.” David agreed.

This made Sophie really think about things. She went to her room and began examining her things, as well. She started with her closet. She began asking herself if she had worn any of these clothes in the past year. If she hadn’t she threw them on the floor until she had realized that she had a mountain of clothes on her floor. She decided it would be a good idea to grab a reusable bag and start packing all of these things. Next she had moved on to her books.

A few days later she was hanging out with Lisa and Ben at Ben’s house. Sophie had brought the roses tea set with her this time. They eventually made some Earl Grey tea. They started making pumpkin cookies as they were trying to decide on a scary movie to watch.

“I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time.” Lisa noticed.
“Yeah, what’s your secret?” Ben asked.
“Well, you would think that with everything that has happened to me, you would like that I wouldn’t be happy. But I found a way.” Sophie explained as she was sipping her tea.

“These past weeks have taught me a lot of lessons. I realized that it is good to let things go that I don’t use anymore. My Grandma must have had 250,000 items in her house. Most of them were memories of my cousins, aunt, my parents and myself. We don’t need to hold on to things to remind things by, our memories are kept in our minds and hearts. I was inspired to get rid of some of my belongings. I feel like it’s allowed me to feel more joy since I’m no longer bombarded with all of this clutter around me. I have even spoken to the principal if we can have a donation week. It’s where we can donate our stuff, and it gets donated to places where people can help themselves if they are in need.” Sophie explained.

Lisa and Ben were in awe with her enthusiasm to help other people.

“How about we forget this movie and we can take our tea and cookies and we can get started with Ben’s stuff first?” Sophie asked.

“That sounds like a great idea.” Lisa confessed.

The three of them carefully carried their tea cups up the stairs and walked into Ben’s room to start their decluttering mission.

Writing Another Story

A couple of days after I had finished writing Taxi Driver, for those who are new to my blog, it is a short story that I had written. I learned what I needed to improve on, such as more thorough editing, and learn to be more descriptive with the setting.

With that in mind, I’ll be beginning to focus on my second story. I’ll be writing about the unknown ripple effects of decluttering and how you can become more comfortable with learning to be with less.

I hope that it can encourage others to donate things that you no longer need or use. Especially since it’s starting to get colder where I live. There might be items that you may have forgotten about, and you no longer use anymore. You just never know how much those items will make a complete or a friend so happy.

I really hope that this story might help others declutter, because you can help out so many people and not even realize it.

Day 62 of 192

This item is from Sunday. I just some time away from my blog, to catch up in other things.

My local coffee shops has these collectible hockey cards. I normally don’t buy them, but three years ago, I decided to get one any way. I remember buying this when I was going to hang out with my friend that day.

I haven’t even heard of the guy that I won. A part of me, kept this card, because it reminded me of hanging out with this friend. We first met because we worked at the same coffee shop. I haven’t hung out with him in two years. We still talk from time to time, but it’s nothing that suffices our hang outs. But that’s okay.

I held on to this card, as a way of holding onto our friendship. I am still learning that memories aren’t in things, they are in us.

Positive Changes

Yesterday I had a cup of tea with a friend whom I haven’t seen in a long time. That was an enjoyable time although it got a bit sad about what we were talking about. That sparked us to be positive and think more positively about our situations.

I became inspired to have a positivity wall where I write quotes on a pieces of paper and hang them on the wall. I just started so I’m still in the process of adding on to it.

Lesson of the Day

Learn to embrace the positive!

Catching Up

Today I was fortunate enough to catch up with a friend whom I haven’t seen in a little while. It was a really nice hang out. We went for a walk in my neighbourhood.

She inspires me to be a better person. I am working on becoming more organized. Seeing her definitely helped. I admire her way of life. Everything in her house is so simple but in an elegant kind of way.

Today, I will spend time with someone who inspires me.

Letting Go

Last week I was sick so I forgot that I didn’t post anything for Buddy Wakefield Wednesday. I apologize for not remembering so here are two posts to make up for it.

“This is an apology letter to the both of us for how long it took me to let things go.”

I love this quote! It describes a time of my sadness. There were many times where I struggled to let go of a dying friendship and to accept that things were never able to go back to the way they were. It took me a long time to accept this fact but after accepting that truth, it is okay that my friendship ended. It was a difficult to accept and move on. But after many months I was able to move on with my head held high. A lot of things went wrong and I am sorry that things ended for the way they did.

There are times where I think of you and wonder if you are okay. But I am okay that we are no longer friends anymore. It taught me a lot of things that I needed to learn like acceptance of others and that you can’t mold someone into someone that they are not.

It was for the best. I realized that friendship happened for a reason and I am forever grateful for that friendship. If it wasn’t for that friendship I wouldn’t have met my boyfriend and I adore him to pieces. ❤