Freecycle is a wonderful thing. Since being a member of the group I have given good homes to a number of things and also acquired a few bits and pieces myself.
Having got a rather nice and useful book from The Hubstacle at Christmas (and i must admit - he is not too bad at the present buying game!), it meant that i needed some bits and pieces to get going.
The book was 'Homemade - gorgeous things to make with love' and I was itching to start on a couple of projects but am sadly lacking in the equipment/material department.
So before I went out and blew the family finances on haberdashery, I thought I would give free cycle a go. In a couple of days I had a reply from a chap, offering me various items and we arranged for me to pop along to collect them.
On my arrival, I realized pretty quickly that he was living on his own, and after realizing that he was not the needlework type of guy, I reached the conclusion that his wife must have died. Sure enough he told me his wife had died last year and that these things were doing no good sitting in the spare room doing nothing.
I was very appreciative of everything i received and told him that it would all be well-used and well-loved, and it will be. On the drive home I started to feel a bit uncomfortable and wondered if I was in fact tomb-raiding. I know it must of been a huge decision for this chap to start sorting through all of his beloved wife's things and to give them away to someone he doesn't know is certainly a very difficult thing to do.
So my question is should I feel a little guilty at benefiting from another persons death?
I can't say I do feel guilty (that might come later), but I do know that it has made me appreciate every item that he has passed on to me and every project that i do, i will give a moments thought to the lady who also once lovingly used these things.
