Another Man's Treasure

There is a fine line between clutter and tradition. After living in our small apartment for three years, I started turning into a clutter Nazi. I was constantly re-evaluating whether we really needed all that stuff. While packing up for the move I almost threw out about half of the things we own. I just kept thinking that a cluttered home is representative of a cluttered life.

My mom seemed to be feeling the same way about two years ago when I was collecting items for a charity garage sale. I think that we all feel a little bit better about giving things away if we know it is for a good cause, and she gave us bags of things she was happy to get rid of. I also gave a big load of clothes that I never wore and some of the knick knacks I'd kept from when I was a teenager.

The day of the sale I was looking around to see if there were any good deals (why do we get rid of junk, just to end up buying more of it?) and stumbled across this picture.

I was almost bowled over with nostaligia and couldn't believe that my mom would give away such an important piece of my childhood. That picture, which Mom had cross-stitched herself had hung in our house while I was growing up. It was going for fifty cents. I had no choice but to buy it. It now hangs in our apartment and I feel a little less homesick every time I see it.

At that same sale Brandon had just finished paying for a blue polo shirt. It cost a quarter, which is kind of a stretch for him, but when he showed it to me, it looked familiar. The Alaska Railroad logo gave it away as one of the things I had just donated. When he wears it I'm always reminded of that happy summer that I spent many hours waiting to pick up cruise passengers at that small railroad in Denali.

Don't get me wrong. Some junk really is junk and we might as well get rid of it instead of sticking it in the dark corners of deep closets. But, within that junk there may be some pretty great memories.

I was lucky to be at my mom's when she was about to get rid of the Halloween house. This wasn't a piece of junk, but probably my favorite October decoration. I proudly put it up this morning and Rocky can't get enough of the colorful lights. Maybe I'll give it to her one day when she lives out on her own, and when she sees it she can feel the happiness that I do when I look at it.