Making It Plain

There was an episode of Hoarders: Buried Alive (S5:E19 2014), where this elderly man had a trailer home that he barricaded with his treasure of trash he had been collecting for over 30 years. It was found, that he became a hoarder after the passing of his father. In the program we also see that he has an elderly fiancé that was living with him. A portion of his hoard fell on her giving injury to her leg. She was hospitalized for a time. While in the hospital, his fiancé's family agreed with him in order for the cohabitation to exist, he would have to do some drastic cleaning. Not willing to give up his hoard, he resolves with the family that he has another property close by and the two of them could live there. Relieved, all of the family agrees. When coming to the property to inspect to see if their mother could live there, they discover that he has used this property to catch the overflow of his hoard. Needless to write that the arguing begins and continues with this man ha...

One of my favorite shows, odd as it may seem, is Hoarders on A&E. Over the numbers of episodes that I have watched, there is a specific common thread in all of the clients. You would think that common thread is mental illness but that is the result of what the common thread brought. Most often then not it was some sort of trauma which led to them being alone. The few cases that didn't, usually suffered from some sort of loss in the family. Theoretically, there are exceptions to the rule, in this case, the common thread. One of the exceptions was this couple who met while in college. They never had children and were loners before meeting each other. What they did share was a love for knowledge and books. She was working at the college library or bookstore when they both graduated with PhD's. Even then, they often found themselves engrossed in some sort of book. After reading, they'd come together and discuss what they read. This was their pattern, their habit, their...