Saturday, October 08, 2011

31 Days {Day 8} Tales from the Crypt


Creeaaaaak!  That's the sound of my hope chest opening.


Hello Parents.  This is going to be difficult.


Hi Ella.  You sit right there.


Awww.  This used to be on my car.


My favorite purple suede boots that at one time I lived in.


Thank goodness I kept them because now I don't have to buy these from Target.  Oh yeah, who's jealous now because they are out of stock.
via
I bought these in France for baby gifts, but I never found the right person to receive them.  The person would have to be a francophile and understand how special they are.  Oh, what are they?  They hold first teeth lost.  France has this mouse instead of the tooth fairy.


Speaking of teeth.  Don't let this creep you out.  Those are my teeth and no I couldn't throw it away.


Nesting dolls have to have some purpose in my future.  I got these in Hungary.  Did I never tell you I traveled in Europe twice in college?  I did two study abroad programs, one in Spain and one in Wales.  Both times I went backpacking around Europe for a month.  I'm only lucky I only had a backpack and could only carry so many souvenirs.  Can't believe this made the cut.


I was born in Germany and apparently I wore this ratty old t-shirt a lot.  It doesn't look like I wore anything else it's so beat up.  I always look like a little orphan in my childhood pictures.  Maybe one day I'll post one.


Troll doll from the 90's


RIP Michael


And I don't want to brag, but you should know that I used to be smart.   



This is my Mom's little box that had her tiara and first Bible in it.  She won some kind of beauty contest and got this.  I wore it in our wedding.  I really am sentimental.


This project wasn't easy, but I was able to let go of two bags of goodwill stuff and one bag of trash. Somehow though it doesn't look that much different when you open it.  Here are just a few things that went.

Wedding shoes
Wedding purse
Many wedding cards-some were cut to decorate wedding scrapbook
Old letters
Graduation paraphernalia-high school and college
Stuffed animal named P.J.
Blank postcards from Europe
Baby clothes for dolls
Childhood clothes
And much more!

The Cabbage Patch kids stayed.  Don't judge me.  Lots of other stuff stayed too.  My previous rule of the hope chest was that every time I opened it I had to get rid of one thing.  It's something that I try to keep under control.  When I got a lot of my Mom's things after she passed away I had to find a place for them too.  

For me the nature of sentimental things is that as time goes by, your need to keep certain things changes.  There was a time when I had a lot of my school notebooks in there.  I have long thrown those out.  When we have kids, it may be a place to hold their sentimental things.  The goal for me is to keep it contained in that space.  I may have some other things hiding out in the house and I am going to transfer them to the hope chest now that I've created some room.  

I feel that the word here is flow and not stagnation.  Keep the things in perspective.  If you have too much of anything, it all loses importance.  I'm working on this.  Maybe one day I'll be able to let go of those teeth.  Aren't they cool though?  I like to click them together.

What about you all?  Where do you hide all your sentimental garbage treasures?  What is the weirdest thing you won't throw away?  Isn't it funny how you think that someone is strange for their packrat items, but when you look at your own it's perfectly acceptable?  

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You make a good point about letting go of things when the time is right. There have been just a couple of things I purged that I regret. I would love for my memory to serve me well instead of "things"--but I honestly can't count on that. I have kept one baby doll, my baby blanket, some letters, one HS scrapbook...maybe they will be let go some day too. xxBliss

edj3 said...

Your post was really interesting for me to read, but from the opposite perspective. I'm pathologically incapable of keeping lots of sentimental items around. I suspect that's because of how many times I moved as a child (12 times), a trend that hasn't changed as an adult (now up to 38 moves).

I have forced myself to keep a small Rubbermaid bin with some things in it, because my life is important, at least to me, and my children are interested. I'm very glad I at least have that box because two years ago our place flooded and we lost most of our furniture, all our appliances and over half our clothing.

The Closet Therapist said...

Bliss-I could never willingly get rid of all sentimental things. I think you have a nice well contained collection.


Kitties-Interesting that you are the opposite. I moved a lot too but not that much. My need to keep sentimental things is because my Mom didn't really keep anything. I always wanted to see those type of things growing up. I guess she had to be ruthless with all our international moves.

I'm glad you have some of those things for you and your children. They are fun to look at. I look forward to my kids making fun of my old yearbook pics!

-xo

Jennifer

Anonymous said...

im really enjoying reading this theme (found it through Pinterest)

i did in fact start to judge you. The teeth are gross, the cabbage dolls, really? and yet you list OLD LETTERS in the throw away?!! clearly you are confused...

and then I realized that's the point: sentiment is completely about YOUR sentiment. My mom couldn't understand why I didn't want to keep old trophies, yet I did keep lots of old drawings and certificates and birthday cards.

I think your maxim of 'Keep it Flowing' is a great rule of thumb for sentimental storage. If what I wind up with is a small collection of the MOST important things, that will satsify both my children's and my own hunger for both tidiness and connection to the past.

thanks :)

Our Trip to Rosemary Beach, Florida

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