vovat | Digging Up the Past (Reply)

As you may know, I have a hard time throwing anything away. I kept most of my old papers in boxes, and every time I think I'm done with them, my mom shows up with a new one. I just recently finished sorting one that had a bunch of stuff from ten or more years ago. I mean, I know you're supposed to keep tax statements for a few years, but I don't think I need a copy of my tax return from 1995, do I? Also in that box was a refund stub addressed to "Dehorf Nashan M," an elementary school art project on which I used way too much glue (a pretty common occurrence back then), and a Mother's Day cookbook from second grade. My recipe was for pepperoni pizza muffins, and I was one of only three kids who in the class who had the honor of illustrating the recipe. What I drew was a lousy picture of Pooh, Piglet, and Rabbit making a giant pizza muffin. One thing that's remained constant in my life is my total inability to draw. What has changed is that I used to try, and now I no longer do. I'm not sure if that's a tragic loss of my childhood innocence, a realization of my own limitations, or both. I also found some greeting cards from

bethje,

colleenanne,

listenesmerelda, and

rockinlibrarian, among others. I've been saving all of my cards in a bag, but I'd like to find a better filing system for them someday. The same goes for my old Oz stories, school projects, and all kinds of other stuff.

I hate cleaning, but I have to say that I probably wouldn't mind it as much if I knew exactly where to put everything. It's having to invent new storage spaces that's particularly tedious.