Things we carry around

Do you remember when I wrote all about my amazing weekend in Nashville back in January with my two fav. girls? At that time we set out my "dream" life and I've been working on getting there. Amongst the many tasks I must perform in the immediate now is cleaning out everything I own. So I started this process because KK and I are having a garage sale (along with everyone else in my sub division) on April 19. I have so much stuff that I can only handle doing one box at at time, which means it will take me past April 19 to go through it all. Anywho- I'm trying nonetheless.

In these boxes of my belongings, I marvel at the things I have carried around from place to place. From one end of the world to the other. From one era of my life to the present. Here are a few things I have found and been entertained by:

1. Old t-shirts- I have saved a lot of old nostalgic t-shirts from every event I attended to every team I played on starting in elementary school and working forward to the college years. What I love about most of them is that they have my last name on them and I plan to have them made into a quilt or a big throw blanket which will become an heirloom of sorts for my offspring-should there be any.

2. Letters from J! which are over 10 years old. I am now holding onto these just in case.

3. Keys to my first car- a 1990 Toyota Celica, Royal Blue. I loved that car. Between my dad, brother and I we racked up over 300,000 miles on that bad boy before Ryan finally retired it (and I have now retired the keys). I'm pretty sure I will come across the license plates for the thing in an up-coming box.

4. Ballet class puzzle, circa 1983. In the original box. I am thinking of sitting down and putting it together tonight to see if all the pieces are still there.

5. My flute- yes, for those of you who don't know I used to play the flute, and the piccolo. I mastered the flute, but then didn't want to vie with the 3 other band nerds win my class for First Chair, so I decided to get a piccolo, learn how to play it and then sit in the First Chair all of the time- because piccolo comes before flute any day.

6. 2 Retainers- This one is not my fault. I just found them in a box my mom had packed up. I now have perfect teeth, but that was not always the case. I once was an orthodontic testing ground. I think my mom probably took out a second mortgage on our home to pay for it all, so I'm sure they have sentimental value for her. Just so you all know, I threw them away tonight.

And so I've gotten into picking and choosing what to keep, what to throw away. I think I have finally advanced in the area of detachment enough to actually throw away. Regardless of what I choose to keep carrying around, this activity is highly entertaining and uplifting to my heart as it takes me right back to "old times" and is cracking me up.