Skip to main content

The Junk Drawer Stays

With each passing year I appreciate the pace I am afforded during the summer months more and more. Especially because I find it increasingly difficult to turn it up again when summer is over. I’m not a spring chicken any more and I just have to admit it! By mid-May, which in Teacher Land is mid-testing-madness season, all bets are off. The diet and exercise plan are replaced with extra long working hours and fast food meals. Sleep is superseded by paper grading long into the night. Chores around the house go undone and multiply exponentially. Times like these call for innovation… like removing one or two large items from the dishwasher to make room for some new dirty ones and rewashing them all. You think, “Brilliant!” as the dishwasher takes on a second function as cupboard. When random loose items like batteries, screwdrivers, flashlights, rubber bands, pennies and toenail clippers make their way into rooms where they do not belong, they find temporary residence in one of a growing number of junk drawers to be dealt with later.
The first week of my summer vacation is always spent doing the spring cleaning that was neglected in its proper season. I spend the days cleaning out drawers and closets, washing windows, and making donation piles. This year I decided to really tackle my closet. I promised to take the advice of experts and truly purge what was no longer serving me. The clothing was easy. I diligently stuck to the “if you haven’t worn it in six months” rule and donated countless boxes of clothes and shoes. It felt great! Ever so proud of myself, I went to the next level. For me, it was old books. As a self-confessed bibliomaniac, this was more difficult. But I applied the same ruthless standards and donated anything I hadn’t re-read at least once or wasn’t a classic (I have my limits). Next were pictures. I had at least 30 years worth of pictures. Before the age of iPhones and Facebook, I actually made photo albums (well, sometimes) and these boxes contained the pictures that didn’t make the cut way back when! What made me think I needed to hold on to them? Or the extra school photos - like all 16 wallet photos of each kid from every grade… I guess it is because it feels really strange throwing your child’s picture in the recycle bin. But in they went. On to old letters. Wow - I’m not sure which was worse: that I was finally going to part with these artifacts of my past, or that I spent two solid days on my closet floor getting side-tracked by their contents. On the third day, I performed an intervention on myself and just admitted that I still have the memories and they do not take up space, or make me sneeze, and out they went.

By the time I was finished, I had so much space that I felt lighter myself. I’ve heard people say this, and I can add my voice to attest. Cleaning out my closet was like rebooting my life. I will truly think twice before holding on to something for later. Life is now. And then we move on. If it doesn’t matter now, it will matter less later. Except for the flashlight. If for nothing else, that is why I need a junk drawer. The junk drawer stays.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Did We Get Here?

  People are asking that a lot lately, and unfortunately, the answer just seems to be, “It’s their fault.” The blame game  gives politicians plenty to exploit as they hope to rile us all up to vote this way or that. I see no sense in Republicans or Democrats claiming to know how to effectively govern in tumultuous times. This is a new historical moment. No one has the answers. None of us knows how to deal with global pandemics, artificial intelligence, and disinformation campaigns on the levels we are seeing today. No one. Because we have not been here before. We have, however, throughout the history of civilization, experienced tumultuous times. And we have not, historically, handled them well. It has been our human tendency to become ethnocentric to the detriment of entire peoples and continents. This we have seen again and again, and the rhetoric of politicians and political leaders around the world today is reminiscent of past turbulent times. From the invention of the wheel to the
Post a Comment
Read more

Ages and Stages

Ages and Stages By Jonna Shutowick. M.S. Ed.   School-aged years are far more challenging for some than we give them credit for. Sure, we all know the middle school years are awkward. What parent hasn’t had to tell their child at some point that “none of this will matter soon, you’ll see”? The early bloomers learn this lesson in late elementary school, most learn it by the 9th grade, but there are some still within the “normal range” who do not understand the truth of this until they are nearly 20. That is a huge 10 years! And, of course, this is the reason for social groupings and cliques and anti-bullying campaigns, and the like. The years between ages 10 and 20 see major shifts in emotional growth and, to compound matters, major physical shifts as well. Not everyone matures at the same rate. Nor do our physical, mental, emotional (and, by proxy, moral) abilities mature necessarily in concert with each other. In fact, a challenge in one area often impedes on the others, cre
2 comments
Read more