Nostalgia and Letting Go

Nostalgia is interesting. Sometimes it just grips you and logic has no place. Many years ago, my mom had a box of stuff she was going to donate. She was a Depression-era farm kid who saved almost everything.

It was just chance that the timing worked that I saw this jar in a box when I stopped by her house and asked if I could please have it. Of course, she gave it to me; she didn't care about it. 

Honestly, I'm not sure why seeing it triggered such a visceral reaction in me. We almost never got to take anything out of this jar in my childhood. I think she mostly used it when she and my dad had bridge parties. She typically put spearmint leaves in it (like these). By the way, I love eating these but haven't had them in ages!

I'm glad I have it. I use it as a cookie jar. I really, really love this little jar and I'm not entirely sure why. The bell next to it in the picture above is another beloved item from my childhood. I thought I had written about it elsewhere, but I can't find a blog entry for it. (To add later???)

One thing I didn't rescue from my mom's mini-purge of her house back in the 90s was a grocery sack full of MAD magazine and comic books! She tossed them in the recycling. I was so upset when I found out. She saw no value in them and I explained that I could have sold some of them or at least enjoyed re-reading them. Ah, well. Stuff is just stuff.

Yet . . . why do some things tug at our hearts more than others? I've saved this jigsaw puzzle since the 1970s. I like jigsaw puzzles. I like words. I like fun fonts. But I don't especially like this puzzle. It's kind of "Meh." So I brought it to the lake, put it together, took this photo, and now it's in the pile to go to the library for their jigsaw puzzle exchange. 

 

I think there was something else I thought about in reference to nostalgia, but it's gone now. I have so many things I think about and I can't follow through on all of them! Time to focus on what's important . . .

Sometimes You Just Need to Put It in Perspective

Back in the 1990s, a wonderful student of mine named Danielle Norris asked me to write her a letter of recommendation for college. She included money for postage. She was one of those extraordinary students (and yearbook staffers) for whom I would have done almost anything. Here are those pieces of ephemera:

 I later received an invitation to her graduation party. I don't know why I wasn't able to go . . . because this was over twenty years ago! I had received a bunch of address books from my aunt and one of them said "Danielle" so I set it aside with the invitation, intending to get these items to her. (Along with a cash gift, I hope, but again - this was a long time ago!)

At one point in time, I tried locating Danielle and / or her parents. It had been long enough that they no longer were in the Jordan area. I have no idea if the East Coast address I found was accurate or not. 

Once again, these items got buried in my numerous piles of stuff to do / deal with / follow up on. (I have sooooooo much stuff and am trying to let it all gooooooo!)

Blogging helps me to let go. Slowly but surely, my house is getting less cluttered. I'm trying to be careful about not buying things I don't need. I'm trying to donate, recycle, and toss. I don't want to leave a legacy of clutter for my children at the end of my life. Here's one more "thing" done and gone. 

 

If Danielle ever reads this, thanks for being an amazing student and wonderful young woman. I hope you're experiencing the best that life has!

The money went into my "Buddy Barrel" - for kids ministries. The address book went into the Goodwill bag. The papers are in the recycling bin.