I've been enjoying pack rat memories as of late. Last night I gutted a closet. Did I have time to gut the closet? Absolutely not. It was random. And isn't quite finished.
My mom has been giving me precious bags of memories again too. Like, every Valentine I received in preschool. Easter cards from people when I was 5. That sort of thing. Fifth grade report cards. I threw most of them away. Against my pack rat nature. My mom saved them for 25 years. I tossed it out. That hurts. But I can only handle so much STUFF.
Back to the closet. I found a little notebook. I opened it. One page looked like this: 6:50, 7:00, 7:08, 7: 15, 7:27, etc etc. It was a page where I was writing down contraction times! You know, over 5 years ago. In the next few pages, I came across our baby name list for before Ella was born.
First, you have to understand -- my whole life I wanted a Natalie. Around 6 months with Ella, it just didn't seem right. Don't know what that was about. But I got to use Natalie anyway. Part of Natalie is about my early obsession with Natalie Wood. Well guess what -- Natalie is quite the drama queen.
In any case, here was our list for girls:
- Ella
- Natalie
- Grace
- Rachael
- Chloe
- Talia
- Jackson
- Joshua
- Adam
- David
- Andrew
- James
- Benjamin
Anyway, it was fun to come across. Now the dilemma. Save it? It was so fun to see it now. Won't it be fun to see it again? Throw it so someday moving out of this house actually seems possible? My mother raised a pack rat. So. Hard. To. Let. Go.
I'll think about it over the weekend.
Kindergarten open house side note: Ella's classroom is the same one I had for kindergarten. And her teacher student taught under mine. Small world! Or more accurately, small town. We're all excited for school to start!
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7 comments:
You threw it?!?!?
MOOOOMMMM!!!! You said I could!!
Both dh and I are pack rats--VERY dangerous.
I have both of those sheets for my first, too. Dh loved the name Natalie for a little girl for both of ours (not that I didn't like it, one of my college friends had just used it 6 weeks before Emma was born). We were the same way with boys names, too.
Oh my gosh, I'm such a big packrat. Your mom giving you valentines made me snort, seriously, cuz that's soooo me! LOL
Hi- I'm a fellow pack rat too. I could sit in my closet for hours looking over all my stuff! But, lately I have been trying to get rid of things too. Good luck with your closet!
Oh, this made me laugh! My mother brings boxes of old scraps, cards musty baby clothes, etc. almost every time she visits. Whenever I bring in the boxes my husband rolls his eyes.
We toss most of the stuff because we don't have room for it. I feel bad, but especially if the items are in bad condition and I have no memory of them they go straight to the garbage.
Sarah, I think I have a solution that works for everyone:
Keep it. Keep it ALL. The list of names, valentines, letters, cards, pictures.... EVERYTHING.
Eventually, all of this "junk" will take over and completely consume your home.
At which point go to your dear, sweet, accomodating husband and tell him ya'll HAVE GOT TO UPGRADE TO A BIGGER HOME.
Your mom won't be bummed you trashed it. You'll always have it to look back on. And you can curl up with your kids on the couch in your new digs and tell 'em all about when so and so gave you such and such!!!
Good luck!!!
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