Enter at your own risk...

This is a gallery of photos from my Dad's house. This is the home I grew up in, and the home where he currently lives.

Although he has been claiming that the state of the house is a result of behavior occurring after the death of my mom in 2001, I can vouch for the fact that, with few exceptions, this is basically the state that the house has been in since my childhood. The amount of clutter has waxed and waned over the years, but the underlying philosophy has been in place since I was a toddler. It seems to be marginally worse now, and the physical disrepair is a development that has increased dramatically over the past 7 or 8 years, but overall, this has been one, steady, unending project since as long as I can remember.

This phenomenon of saving everything and collecting garbage to the extreme is known as hoarding and is often a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD.

People who knew me in that house understand why I have virtually no furniture in my current home. The idea of large, open, clear rooms is very appealing to me. It is a struggle for me to keep it that way, because I have inherited the same "keep everything" instinct as my dad. It is important for me to keep that from becoming a controlling factor in my life, so I periodically force myself to reevaluate all of my stuff. Turn the page and maybe you'll begin to understand.