Wednesday, January 10, 2007

stored nicely

Jake and I threw our holiday tree out the window two nights ago - not really relevant to this post but I thought it was worth mentioning!

We then took everything out of our closets went to Menards to buy new closet rods and then to IKEA to buy more wooden hangers.

The apartment has been a disaster for about two days and let's face it, it still is....but at least it looks better than it did two days ago.

I am tired - of ALL the stuff I have collected, kept, hidden, and stored nicely away in hundreds and hundreds of boxes.

Why? Why do I have to keep every single letter and card and ribbon and tissue paper and mementos from my past?

BECAUSE SOMEDAY MY KIDS WILL WANT TO SEE IT.

Right?

Yeah, right.

9 comments:

amanda jane said...

Anne, considering i've known you a long time, and considering we have never sat down to look through your "shit" or mine for that matter, and considering our "shit" symbolizes more to us than we care to admit, and considering this is a piece of your own advice, i must now say:

"remember IT, but throw THAT away!"

amanda jane said...

p.s.

i will help you throw some shit away tonight...as i'm coming for a sleep over and hope to have some place to sleep.

sh said...

Hi Anne, I have the same problem. I keep every thing! Hopefully some day you'll get an impulse to trash some things because I do, once in a very long (and rare while) and that's when I finally make use of the chance to throw everything unnecessary away quickly before i regret it! :P

that impulse hasn't come in ages though! eep.

Trisha said...

I here you Anne. I still have every card and letter and little note from you in college and after. Plus all of Trav's too. When is it ok to dump them? When you know, please let me know, too.

Scott said...

Canada's version of MTV does a Tree Toss from the top of their studio every year. They put fireworks on it and everything... it is good times.

Scott

Marissa said...

omg, i say that ALL the time. i keep EVERYTHING. my mom says i'm the worst kind of pack-rat there is...i've kept all my dolls from childhood b/c im convinced my children will want them one day. right. something tells me rather than ratty dolls from the '80s they're gonna want pretty new dolls instead!

Buffy said...

I've downsized until I can't downsize anymore. And I still have 'too much'.

I have no good advice. Except this...when throwing your tree out the window, if not careful, you will break said window.

End.

B.

Teresa said...

Your kids will want to see something from your past. But, the less you save, the more intriguing the saved tidbits will be.

I have to admit (much to the dismay of my incredibly sentimental significant other) that I don't save much of anything unless it makes me laugh aloud.

Jenny said...

Teresa is right. My dad's saved items from childhood are contained in one coffee can. As children, my sibs and I would pour over the items with great intrigue.

My mom had only a few items too, but they were kept in a locked box in the hall closet on the top shelf behind the picnic basket. My brother once picked the lock. There was a photo of my parents making out in the back seat of a car. ha! We were teenagers then, and would have rather not ever seen that pic!