I decided to walk into the lion’s den today and tackle our
“junk drawer.” Everyone has one. It’s the catchall for loose change, packs up
gum, legos, objects that fall into “what the hell is this? It might go to
something, better keep it” category. Old keys. Receipts. Buttons. Paper clips.
You name it.
So I did it. I emptied it and cleaned it and put all the
shit back in it although now it is in organized “sections” of which I give less
than a month to be ripped into one big hurricane of junk again. Some things I
tossed. Some things made me cry. Some things I swear are not ours but yet made
their way into the Schmidt junk drawer. Anyone missing a pair of Oakley
aviators by the way?
So how do drawers end up like this? Who takes a piece of gum
and throws the wrapper back in the drawer? Why keep buttons when the world
knows I can’t sew to save my life. If the button needs replacing, consider yourself
the owner of a new shirt.
Anyhow. I thought it remarkable that I found over TEN pairs
of sunglasses in this drawer. Ridiculous. I have a pair in the glove box, a
pair in my purse, and 3 pairs in my closet. I’m sure there are beach bags with
shades in them from last summer and my kid has at least 8 pairs floating around
from school functions or b-day party gifts. It’s like a sunglass hut up in
here.
And keys. My god the keys! Spare keys to my Mazda I sold 2
years ago. Random keys to everything under the sun and none of which I know go
to what. Keys that look like diary keys, jewelry box keys, and lock box
keys…none of which I own. Where does this shit come from?!
Amongst all the loose change (of which I’m hoping can cash
out to be enough to buy me a few drinks at the bar), breath mints, gadgets,
lint rollers, playing cards (the rest of deck is where?!), marbles, whistles,
flash-lights, nail polish, chap-stick, and old receipts… I found no less than
20 bic lighters. No shit. Who needs all these?! Who bought them? How did they
end up in this drawer? Better yet, why did I put them back in the drawer?! It
was towards the end and what else does one do with them?
My apologies for finding wedding invites that never had the
RSVP returned (so cringe worthy!!) I never do that and all I can say is “IT
WASN’T ME.”
Rummaging through my drawer of junk made me realize how
quickly our lives fly by. How this drawer is the collecting hub of all the
makings of our days. The sunblock from last Summer that I tossed in the drawer
after coming back from the water park parched and fried. The old Crayola
sunglasses that Landon wore when he was 4. I can still see him smiling in his
car seat, thinking he was Mr. Cool. The mocha lip balm I had to buy because it
tasted like hot chocolate and coconuts and I wore every day in Orlando…and then
forgot about. The key chain from Landon’s fun run that he thought was cool for
a day and then not so much. Old pink erasers purchased for school but never
made it into the backpack, one day he’ll be too big for those big pink erasers.
The old photos of everything that makes you melt…baby announcements of kids
that are now eight and pictures of Landon as a toddler wearing clothes that has
been sold and playing with toys that have been lost along the years. You see
how quickly life slips by. What you remember. What you forgot. What you can’t
bring yourself to throw away for fear of losing a memory that could be tied to
it.
So maybe it’s good to let the shit build up for a few years
again. Maybe it’s good to look back and go through some memories while
organizing. Maybe we need that? A junk
drawer.
We probably don’t need 3 though and that was just drawer #1.
Lord help me. I don’t know if I should move on to drawer #2, start a
bic-lighter stand out front (screw lemonade) or cash in my change and hit the
pub.
Decisions decisions.
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