Day 6: Whatever Tickles My Fancy

I've been putting off this post for awhile but it is time that I make a confession: I am a pack rat. I have known this for awhile but it was taken to new levels when I cleaned out some of the closets at my parents house. My parents have very kindly left my room intact, as well as all of my papers, books, and other items in the basement and our library.

Before I show you just how much I treasure and hold on to things, I'll give a few examples. I have kept nearly every school paper I have ever done from junior high through the present. They are organized by class, date, and year with the files from my dissertation and other studies organized by class or topic. I have three black file boxes FULL of papers in our little apartment and am on the way to filling the 4th. William jokes that my boxes of papers are as high as our tv which is on top of of tv stand. I absolutely LOVE books- that really is my true weakness and I always buy a couple of the places that I travel to. They really are the perfect souvenirs as they generally have great photos and information about the place. I also keep all of the cards that I receive as well as programs/brochures/etc from various activities that I attend. I really can't bear to part with most of these items because I so enjoy going back and reliving all of the fun memories.

This being said, I realized just how out of control my habit had become while cleaning out my childhood closet. I kept and dried EVERY flower and corsage that I ever received from attending a dance or from sweet friends. The pink bouquet has held up the best because it is only about 2 years old from when I was a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding. The yellow rose is one that I received while I was on the tennis team in high school (gold was one of our school colors)

Oh and it gets better- I even LABELED them as to which dance or friend I received them from and what year. It totally makes me laugh because I literally think I was saving them because I was afraid that I would never again receive flowers from anyone and so I had to immortalize these objects forever. But most of the flowers look so gross and terrible- why would I want to look at them anyways. The one below is terrible! I can't believe that I kept this for over 10 years.

The really tragic thing was that I had 15 sets of flowers in my closet. 15! I took photos of all of them to document just how much things had deteriorated. I actually threw all of these away!! And I no longer keep any flowers that I receive- I enjoy them while they are alive and throw them away when they are dead. So I feel that I have made some progress in that aspect. But it really does make for some great laughs to take a trip back down memory lane (although some trips- like the dead corsage above) are better remembered in the mind or by a photo :-)