the purple chai
now :: then :: me :: them

a fifty-something under-tall half-deaf school librarian in the jersey suburbs with two grown kids and time on her hands

Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.


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Stuff

02.27.2003

4:19 pm

I've got a lot of stuff.

I don't have jewels or fancy cars or even nice clothes. I've got a lot of boxes that computers or tvs or even books came in, going back years. I've got a lot McDonald's and Burger King toys, even though my girls are 18 and 21. I've got about 50 of those telephone wires with the clips on each end, all different sizes, and I've got even more of those twist-ties that come on the telephone wires with the clips on each end. It would appear that I have never thrown away anything.

But clearly, I'm not even a contender in this contest. My sister and I have begun to clear out my parents' apartment, which they moved to 10 years ago after about 30 years in the house I grew up in. We're working on it, slow and steady. And so, a partial list of what we've found:

1. The receipt for every piece of furniture they ever bought. All of it was purchased before 1974.
2. The instruction book for the microwave they replaced last year, and the TV they replaced before they moved.
3. Paperclips and rubber-bands. Every damn drawer was full of paperclips and rubber-bands.
4. The paid invoice for my wedding in 1977.
5. The termite insurance policy on the house, 1966.
6. A list of my grandmother's assets when she died in 1978, totaling about $800.00.
7. My grandfather's citizenship papers, 1912.
8. The recipe for my sister's baby formula, 1948.
9. Dozens of sample-sized containers of baby powder from various hosptial stays.
10. About 26 - we counted - tubes of denture glue.
11. 15 boxes of tissues.
12. 18 small cans of cut green beans.
13. The paid invoice for the 1955 Chevy. (Wow, what a car!)
14. The paid invoice for the doctor who delivered me in 1953, and the paid invoice for the hospital charge of $35.00.
15. His draft card, 1937.
16. 3 copies of his discharge papers. Did he think they were going to call him back into service?

and, best of all,
17. The ticket to the New Year's Eve dance, 1943. It was their first date.

And so, I urge you, clean your dressers and drawers now! I plan to begin as soon as I can! Start now, and throw it all out!

But not everything.

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