I am cleaning out closets, and I mean really cleaning out closets. Organizing, sorting, tossing, giving away… The van is full of stuff for the thrift store!
Pretty much every closet in the house had at least one box of what I call keepsakes in it. You know, that stuff you just can’t let go of. The stuff that is tied up with all the memories and emotions of times gone by. We had 22 boxes of memories! Twenty-two!!!
Sometimes when I am in the closet and happen to catch a glimpse of one of these boxes, I am haunted by a quote I heard years ago on one of those organizing shows on TLC. “If it is that special to you, why is it shoved in a box instead of out where you can see it and enjoy it?”
Why did we keep all this stuff? It isn’t as if I ever look at it. In fact I wasn’t even sure what was in some of the boxes??? Was any of it that important???
I wouldn’t know unless I started to actually open the boxes and see what treasures I had stored away for all these years…
Some things I looked at and wondered what I was thinking when I kept it. Like 20 copies of our wedding invitations…Really??? 20 copies??? Some things I didn’t even remember where it came from, or who it belonged to. Those were easy to part with…
Other things were not so easy! I know I don’t have them out to admire but that doesn’t make them any less special. But how do you display a box full of old baby clothes or your letterman jacket from high school??? Just because I don’t want them hanging on the living room wall or sitting in a glass display case doesn’t mean they aren’t special and I don’t want to keep them…
The outfit we brought Andy home from the hospital in
A book Will wrote about me in Sunday School for Mother’s Day.
The dance contest trophy that Andy won because the judge liked his Colorado shirt (Andy didn’t dance at all but the judge was from Colorado)
Will’s favorite Winnie the Pooh hat!
A hand crank He-Man flashlight that my grandpa bought me when we went to the Toys R Us for the very first time! He told me I could buy whatever I wanted to in the store and I chose that??? I think my head was spinning from the sheer awesomeness of a store filled with only toys!!!
The snake Will picked out as a memento from our last Diamondback’s game.
Baby Scarecrow. Zack loved him to death! Obviously…
The elephant made by the sweet little old lady volunteers that they gave to Zack in the ER before he went in for x-rays. He had swallowed a quarter and they wouldn’t let me in the x-ray room with him because I was pregnant. They were so nice to him and spoiled him I don’t even think he noticed I wasn’t there… LOL
The Steiff bear I bought in a little toy shop in Melsungen, Germany when I was 15.
The stuffed tiger I bought Chris on our first Christmas while we were dating. He loves tigers!
Mr. Ugly was my brother’s baby toy and a favorite of all of my boys when they were babies!
With all that reminiscing, it probably took a whole lot longer than it needed to… but when all was said and done I had condensed it all into 12 bins, all neatly organized and labeled!
I don’t know how often I’ll break into the bins, but it’s nice to know that each one contains a lifetime worth of happy memories! :o)
2 comments:
hi I saw ur post but didn't know if u had given the tiger away! I hope not I had one just like it when i was a little baby and miss it dearly. cherish it cuz I would if i had I mine. I moved out and couldn't find it anywhere and I used to keep it very close to me.
Oh no! We kept him. He is very special to my hubby and me!
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