Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Less junk in the trunk

Well, cleaning out the trunk took me a lot longer than a paltry naptime hour, I'll say that. Mentally prepared though I thought I was. There was a giant sucking sound in my living room for about 8 hours yesterday. It was the sound of the emotional vortex I found myself dragged into everytime I opened a journal to check its start date or see what pictures there might be tucked into it. It was the sound of me cracking the file of love letters, of me opening my horrible high school scrapbook, of me unexpectedly finding pictures of my favorite aunt, dead as of a year and a half ago, of me sorting through the pile of detritus left from my first marriage. Oy. But it's done now! And here's what I managed:

  1. I tossed out all my college notebooks except for one, only pausing to look through a few of my old papers. Holy crap, did I really once know that much about American labor history?! Or life for women in Renaissance Italy? Or Chinese classical poetry? Apparently so. But not any longer. So sad. (Interesting aside: the one college notebook I saved was from one of my Chinese literature courses, taught by the man who was not only my favorite professor but who would also be my father-in-law for 3 years. He's retired now, but he's still Sister's grandfather.)
  2. Tossed out all my old love letters and any bad poems written to me by a certain ex-boyfriend who considered me his muse. I can't believe I even still had that much of his stuff lying around. So THAT was a good riddance. Unfortunately, I dimly remember cleaning out my trunk once before and also purging it of Husband's love letters to me back in the day. You know, we used to date during college, long before I married my Ex. I sure wish I'd held onto THOSE love letters. I suppose I thought it was rude to hang onto them when I first married the Ex...
  3. Threw out not only my old art projects but also a few paintings from the same ex-bad-poet boyfriend above. I should mention that Husband knew and hated this particular ex-boyfriend back in the day. So those paintings would never have been hung up in this household, let me tell ya! Not that I would've wanted to since they, like the poems, also sucked. What was up with me and these lame artist types anyway?
  4. Saved letters I found from a certain good friend who spent a couple of years in France. You know who you are, my friend! I haven't read them yet, but maybe when you and Mommygoth come over next we can look at them and laugh.
  5. Saved all things related to my marriage with my Ex--a couple of unused wedding invitations, our guest list, all our wedding photos, well-wishers' cards that came in after the big day, a quilted wall hanging that some old hippie friend of the Ex's parents made with our names on it, a watercolor my Ex painted of his own face. These things I saved for Sister. However I feel about her dad, I think she'll appreciate having them someday. I think what I'll do is pack them into a box with her name on it and stash them in the attic to give to her when she's older. I'm hanging on to the crystal wine glasses and the bit of china we received for her, too. In the Sugar household, we'll soon be using Husband's parents' wedding china as our own soon anyway. I mean, when we use china at all. Which is really seldom.
That's it, then. I expected to feel drained afterwards, but actually a nice side effect of reading some of that old stuff was that I suddenly felt my 23-year old self again. Husband and I had quite a nice little romp afterwards. (heh heh)

7 comments:

devilishsouthernbelle.net said...

You are doing better than me....most of my high school scrapbooks and things are at my mom's....I could spend hours reading what people wrote to me in my yearbooks. And though I don't miss high school at all, I do miss the time in my life when I was truly secure and actually had potential and promise.

I still have my first wedding stuff, too. It's at my mom's, and I doubt I will ever look at it again. But it's there with some photos if my sons ever decide they want to see it.

When I moved to this state, I made sure to leave a lot of my sentimental stuff at my mom's house. Going through it is a time-sucking vortex for me, too.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you did a terrific job and got a lovely bonus for your hardwork, too! Hee hee!

Amber said...

Good job! I need some 'stuff cleaning out motivation' but I've not found it.

Your title is making me giggle- I keep thinking 'dieting' when I read 'less junk in the trunk'. That's what I need.. sigh

Erin said...

Good for you! Sounds like you got so much done, even if it did take you longer than expected. I think it's wonderful that you are saving all that stuff for sister. I wish my parents had saved some of their old wedding stuff for me.

Mommygoth said...

Sounds very cathartic and productive. Oh, I know just who that ex was. First name starting with an R, no? Did you and he not once decorate my ENTIRE yard with Mardi Gras beads upon your return from said event?

Sister will be glad to have that stuff from your first wedding - glad you were able to bring yourself to keep it. My fondest memories of that event involve catching JS when she passed out in the bridesmaid line, and watching your ex father in law almost fall in the bonfire. Ah, good times.

Love you!

Dani said...

Congratulations...It's not easy taking the time to shift through objects of our past and let them go. This is really Spring Cleaning taken to the next level.

cubmommy said...

Sometimes it is nice to sort through your past and get rid of things. What a nice idea keeping things for Sister. She will appreciate it when she is older.

My parents divorced and I have a wedding photo and my mom's wedding band from their marriage. It means a lot.