Who Says Cleaning is Just for Spring?
I have been working at cleaning out my library, my office, and other storage spaces. I have a confession to make: I’m a saver. Not a hoarder, but a saver.
I save certain things for sentimental reasons. Maybe it was a gift from a friend or belonged to my mother or grandmother. Some are also useful things. I have a hammer with a green stripe and a red stripe. Those stripes are how my father marked his tools. Whenever I need a hammer, it’s the one I use, and it always makes me think of Dad.
Somethings Can’t Be Deleted from a Device
I save photos. Not the swipe left kind of photos, but actual photos that I can frame or put in a scrapbook. My favorite Christmas cards are the ones that bring photos of family or friends, and I am thrilled when they are big enough to frame. (The current trend of collage cards makes that more of a challenge, but I have been known to frame the whole collage.) My Grandma’s sideboard (another item I have for sentimental reasons) is covered with photographs. Photographs are on shelves and tables. If I receive more recent photos, I replace the ones in the frames with those and save the old ones in a box or envelope.
And those Christmas cards that bring the photos, I save those, too. I save birthday cards, Christmas cards, Thank you cards, Sympathy cards. I have drawers and boxes filled with cards from various occasions.
I also have letters. All of you who don’t remember a time when letters were handwritten on paper and sent through the mail have missed out on a ritual I treasured. Going through them again has been a journey through my past. My husband served in the Navy and wrote to me nearly every day he was away. I received letters from family members when I lived in another state, and I received letters from friends and family members who lived out of town.
Going through these things and trying to decide what to discard has been time consuming, but it has been time filled with memories. And I have enjoyed every minute of it.
