"Detritus...." 'Michael Herr' (Aloha Friday)

Renowned author Michael Herr is back on this awesome Aloha Friday talking about 'Detritus,' a word I needed to look up!(any disintegrated material; debris)
 Make sure and check out Michael's website at; http://www.michaelherr.com/

'Detritus,' can be many things to many people, "remember one mans (kids)meat is another mans poison..."

ALOHA FRIDAY

October 14

It's Aloha Friday.

Detritus

Detritus — the remains of something broken down or destroyed, or something discarded as in rubbish.

I began thinking about the detritus of my own house, my own life, the other day. In a moody sort of way I began looking around at how my life is reflected in the things that I have accumulated. I thought back to when I had to clean out my parents' house after their deaths. I filled a dumpster with their collected dreams, hopes and memories. I filled only the front seat of my car with their things that still seemed to matter.

I wonder if my son will go through the same experience when he has to clean out the current home of my wife and I. What will he make of all the little ceramic knickknacks that my wife has collected over the years? She remembers where she picked up each of them. The tiny porcelain acorn from Heathrow's Duty Free shop. The many Winnie-the-Pooh pieces from our visit to Hartfield in Sussex. Her collection of egg-boxes — ceramic, wooden, metal, plastic and even actual eggs. Hundreds and hundreds of egg-boxes (including one signed by a great-great-great granddaughter of Faberge).

What will my son do with my collection of Japanese netsuke? Some modern, some very old, some erotic, some strange. Made from either wood or ivory. Collected over the past forty-plus years. Will he sell them? Will he give them to some museum?

What will become of my collection of billy clubs and blackjacks? Again, some very old. Some from other countries. Since they're mostly illegal to carry, and mostly difficult to sell, my son will probably trash most of them.

The artwork that has meant so much to us? Again, collected over the years to remind us of where we've traveled and who we were at that time. The hula dancer lamp from Kona? The ceremonial boomerang? The didgeridoo that I've never been able to play? Will they find new homes on eBay?

Books? What will become of our books? Nearly four thousand books fill our house. Books that have carried my wife and I to lands far and near, fanciful and real. With electronic books taking over the world, I hold out little hope that our massive library will go anyplace but to the nearest landfill.

I see all of our collections as detritus. Rubbish that no one else will want. But to us . . . this is all the repository of beautiful, wonderful, treasured memories. And after we are gone, our memories will be gone too.

Detritus. Just detritus.

Much aloha.

check out Michael's website at http://www.michaelherr.com/  buy all six books for only $18

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