An evening gown with feathers out to THERE?
Dead tennis balls? Computer manuals three generations old?
The girls’ stuffed animals. A policeman’s hat from Graubunden, Switzerland. Airplane life jackets. Barbie Colorforms. Luggage. Luggage. And more luggage.
An airplane crate for a 175-pound dog. When my current dog weighs 15 pounds?
What to DO with it all? Ancient tennis balls and computer manuals are easy, but after that it’s rougher.
I wore the feathered evening gown to Bush (the father’s) inaugural ball…and even if I don’t like their politics, I like the memory. The planning, the shopping, my friend teaching me…FINALLY…how to use a blow dryer. I was 32, got my first professional manicure.
Extra luggage….Whenever I go traveling to the third world I take school supplies and extra clothes. (that many extra clothes?)
How many tote bags does a person need? Shall I toss this Air Inter duffle? It’s navy blue, beat-up, and the shoulder straps aren’t padded. Air Inter was a French domestic airline that went out of business in 1997. But I’ve had the duffle way longer than fifteen years. So long in fact that I flew Pan Am (out of business…1991) across the ocean. It was 1983 and I was six months pregnant, my last assignment in travel journalism before Jessamyn was born. I was in the south of France, fell in love with foie gras for the first time, stayed in a hotel with a button to call the butler.
The golf clubs are so gone, and the skis too…it’s super easy to get rid of other people’s things. But should golf clubs go in the Good Will? Is there a special program for impoverished children to learn life skills through golfing?
I give Rocky a call on that one. Good excuse for a break.
So much stuff…the get-rid-of boxes are accumulating…a wooden doll from Japan, a leather portfolio with no replacement pads, FLOPPY DISKS, Jessamyn’s bumblebee costume from eighth grade.
I add the Air Inter satchel to the to the discard pile. I’ll still have the memory even if the bag is gone.
The more I get rid of, the more virtuous I feel.
If my garage is organized, does that mean my inner life will be as well?
