Why is it that when our name is on something, we think we have to keep it forever? Don Aslett in his book "Clutter's Last Stand" says,
"Our name, even our initials, emblazoned on anything seems to be the official stamp of discard immunity." My husband got a beach towel for his high school graduation with his name embroidered on it. It is tattered and hardly soaks up the water anymore, but his name is on it, so he keeps using it. I finally turned it into a rag last summer. He graduated in 1991.
I found this doily in a drawer the other day. I'm not sure I've ever put this out on display. As you can see, it is almost 18 years old. Am I keeping it to prove that my husband and I really did get married? Will I forget the anniversary date without it? Maybe I will forget our names!
Our name is a huge part of who we are. It identifies us before anything else and when we see that name on our stuff, those things feel like they're a part of us. It almost feels like we're throwing a piece of ourselves away, even more than when we get rid of all that other "no name" stuff, which is hard enough.
The hardest thing for me to admit not getting rid of are my embroidered washcloths/very old and dingy rags. I am not sure who gave me the white one, but the green one was from the set of towels my mom sent with me to college. If you look very carefully, she embroidered "LMG" on the corner of every towel and washcloth in the set so I wouldn't lose them in the dorm laundry. That is a great memory for me of how much my mom cared and how much time she took to make sure the little things were taken care of my first year away from home. Now, I am pretty sure that I don't need an old rag with my name on it to remember how much my mom cares about me, but when it comes time to throw it away, I never can.
Always remember it's the memory we want to hold onto, not the thing. Memories stay with us forever in our hearts, we just need little triggers to bring them up again when we need them. Take pictures, save the littlest triggers and let the biggest ones go. We need space in our lives for making new memories.
What new memory will you make today?
"Our name, even our initials, emblazoned on anything seems to be the official stamp of discard immunity." My husband got a beach towel for his high school graduation with his name embroidered on it. It is tattered and hardly soaks up the water anymore, but his name is on it, so he keeps using it. I finally turned it into a rag last summer. He graduated in 1991.
I found this doily in a drawer the other day. I'm not sure I've ever put this out on display. As you can see, it is almost 18 years old. Am I keeping it to prove that my husband and I really did get married? Will I forget the anniversary date without it? Maybe I will forget our names!
Our name is a huge part of who we are. It identifies us before anything else and when we see that name on our stuff, those things feel like they're a part of us. It almost feels like we're throwing a piece of ourselves away, even more than when we get rid of all that other "no name" stuff, which is hard enough.
The hardest thing for me to admit not getting rid of are my embroidered washcloths/very old and dingy rags. I am not sure who gave me the white one, but the green one was from the set of towels my mom sent with me to college. If you look very carefully, she embroidered "LMG" on the corner of every towel and washcloth in the set so I wouldn't lose them in the dorm laundry. That is a great memory for me of how much my mom cared and how much time she took to make sure the little things were taken care of my first year away from home. Now, I am pretty sure that I don't need an old rag with my name on it to remember how much my mom cares about me, but when it comes time to throw it away, I never can.
Always remember it's the memory we want to hold onto, not the thing. Memories stay with us forever in our hearts, we just need little triggers to bring them up again when we need them. Take pictures, save the littlest triggers and let the biggest ones go. We need space in our lives for making new memories.
What new memory will you make today?
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