Hoarding

I'm currently watching a show about hoarding on television. I am not a hoarder. I love getting rid of things. I hate knick knacks and trinkets, etc. A "collection" of something, does not appeal to me. Not to say that I don't have things that I like... I do! Particularly mid-century modern things, but most things that I buy, I sell (at my fabulous online vintage store Bad White Trash Memories). My mom, on the other hand, is a hoarder. Her living room area is pretty clear. Her bedroom has stacks in the corners, but it's still functional, but then she has two back bedrooms that are full of junk and she additionally built a shed in the back of her house that is also full of junk. She recently asked me to promise that I wouldn't throw out her things after she dies. I kind of changed the topic.

Amazingly, none of the children inherited my mother's hoarding tendencies. I have about 5 storage boxes full of stuff from high school, college, young adulthood etc. Some of this stuff I could sort though and throw out, it's just a matter of doing it, not a matter of being psychologically unable to let go. Some things I'll always keep- like notes between me and my girlfriends in high school or photographs of old boyfriends, but there are some things that I have been holding on to that I need to let go.

Here it is... my hoarding confession. I've kept every single greeting card, shower invitation, Christmas card, etc that I've ever received. It's ridiculous. I NEVER go through them. It's not like I enjoy going through them or anything. I just feel guilty about throwing them out. Especially if they are HANDMADE. I mean, someone thought of me. How can I just throw their thoughts and well-wishes in the trash? And what about if they die? I have a birthday card from my father, for my 20th birthday. It's a Far Side comic. The one where the guy is only a head. As in he's missing his body. And it's his birthday and all his gifts are hats. The card represents everything that was good about my father. That he sometimes remembered me and his sense of humor. He was in the hospital by my 21st birthday and dead by my 22nd. What if I'd thrown that card away?

I think that the answer is to throw things that you have a tendency to have emotional attachment to away immediately. If I'd thrown that card from my dad away immediately, I wouldn't ever remember it now most likely. But that thought also makes me sad. Stupid greeting cards! My secret shame.