Posts tagged hoarding

“In this great future you can’t forget your past…” -Bob Marley

It seems like hoarders are all the rage right now.  There are television shows dedicated to them, articles written about them, and I’m unlucky enough to live across the hall from one (seriously…this woman has trash seeping out from under her door).  As an organized clean-freak I am disgusted by the concept of hoarding, which is basically never throwing anything out and living amongst a bunch of well, crap.  I hate clutter, I constantly empty trash cans, and I hate cats.  All of these qualities make me hoarder-proof.

Or maybe not.

This weekend, I had the pleasure of going to my parent’s house to switch my winter and summer wardrobes.  When you live in a shoebox-sized apartment in Manhattan, you do not have the luxury of keeping everything you own in one place.  Most people have to utilize some kind of storage unit; I, however, utilize my parent’s house.

In the process of getting all my summer gear out of my closet at my childhood home, my mother and I spontaneously decided to delve into all the boxes and bins I had back there.  Hell, I was there, might as well look through it and see what I could get rid of.

What I found in there was slightly terrifying.  Boxes that represented my entire life up until this point… old greeting cards, newspaper clippings, college textbooks, artwork and trophies.  Papers I wrote, diplomas, awards, and class photos.  Music boxes, programs for dance recitals, and rosary beads from my Communion.  Paraphernalia from Sweet 16’s, bar mitzvah’s, and school trips I attended.  

And of course, my cheerleading pom-pom’s.  Oh, and a “spirit stick” — also cheerleading related, but I realize sounds kind of dirty.

I’m also going to admit something extremely shameful to you…. I have a duffel bag in my closet (that has a LOCK on it) FILLED WITH ALL MY NOTES FROM HIGH SCHOOL.  I don’t mean classroom notes; I mean the notes my friends wrote to me that were in super cute lingo (wuz up?  how r u???) and folded in some nifty triangular form.  People, I am not joking, I have an entire bag of these.  

HOARDER ALERT!  HOARDER ALERTTTTTTTT!!! 

Looking through this stuff provided me with some great memories, and nostalgia definitely kicked in.  Things made me laugh, things made me sentimental, and things made me cringe.  

In the end, I did get rid of most of it…because, why not?  Did I need the newspaper articles outlining the scores of all the Baldwin High School football games?  I’m not sure I did.  

There are some things I held onto, though, and probably always will.  Great letters from friends, papers I wrote that had a special meaning, and anything that I know I’ll look back on years from now and appreciate.

I kind of wish I held on to the pom-pom’s, though.