And So It Begins...

My name is FiFi. It isn’t really, but FiFi gives more of the impression I am trying to project.

Realism is not my friend, because reality does not do justice to the image that I want to establish. Realism would give you a totally false picture of what is going on here.

I need to tell you about my roommate; this is a new situation for me. Not counting husbands, I have not had a roommate since approximately 1952; so I come to this whole situation with a fresh outlook and few prejudices. My present roommate is approximately 65 years younger than I am, so I do not expect her to bring to our arrangement the depth of experience and knowledge of people, places and things that come so naturally to me. I also did not expect her to bring the worldly goods—in terms of clothing, toys and accessories—that would be more appropriate in terms of volume for an entire sorority house.

Let us agree: in terms of worldly goods, she is over-endowed. In terms of normal self-esteem, she is similarly over-endowed. Or maybe not, maybe this is her defense against what she perceives to be my decided advantage in this situation.

To be fair: I offered her a room, without thinking that I would have to denude it of my own possessions, that have been filling every inch, prior to her arrival. And she arrived in stages, so I was not initially overwhelmed by the THINGS that accompanied her. Over a six month period these THINGS never stopped coming. It was a relentless onslaught and one that I assumed would stop when all available storage space was filled.

In retrospect I should acknowledge that I am probably better off now without the household files I thought so essential to modern life, with the wallpaper samples that spanned the duration of my tenancy, perhaps fifty years, without the clothing for a variety of places and temperatures that I will probably never again experience.

It was something like the pouring of cement into the foundation of a new home: THINGS and THINGS and THINGS into every crevice until it was a solid mass of accumulation.