... Excuse me ...

Marlene Terry

I was inspired to write my blog today by the TV program called "Hoarders."

Have you seen that show?

Just to think about it makes my skin crawl.

It's where you can watch the goings on at the home of someone with "compulsive hoarding disorder." ... Or those who excessively acquire huge amounts of ... everything really, store it wherever it will fit and then lack the will to get rid of any of it ... ever!

Well. I don't think the boxes of items I've saved and taken with me over the years through one move after another, would ever qualify me as being a hoarder. But still. It's true I have no inclination to discard any of that stuff.  

Take my resolve the other day to go through and clean out just one of those receptacles. ... Not a box but a large antique camel back chest, that sits at the end of my bed.  You know the kind.

... Ever watch the movie "Little Women?"

Those March sisters, each had at least one chest. Most memorable were those kept in the attic area of the family home that contained memorabilia that meant the most to each of them.

... Don't think I'll ever forget the scene where Jo opened the chest that belonged to Beth, the young, sickly sister who'd just passed away.

Inside was her handwritten pages of a family newspaper that reported the happenings of the March family and especially the fun, unforgettable experiences of the girls themselves while they were growing up.

... Excuse me while I get a tissue.

... Of course, Jo would never have "gotten rid of" any of those things! ... And it's a similar kind of experience for me whenever I open My chest, determined to keep only those things that are most important, and instead spend the time just rearranging it all.

... The ribbons are all that's left of the corsage that I wore the day my daughter got married. The flowers soon faded and little by little crumbled away. But each time I hold that faded, deteriorating remembrance in my hand, I can see my girl ... and how happy, young and beautiful she looked.

There's also the cub scout shirt with all those badges, almost all still intact. Our cute little boy, lit up like a Christmas tree the year he won the Pinewood Derby.

That's why I'm sure, that after hours of trying to decide what WAS most important in that chest ... all those aforementioned items, plus a handmade doily, programs from various performances, one tiny baby shoe, a dance card with the pencil still attached from my first date with a college man, an old, and really big, Polaroid camera, with an extra bright, "blind you for hours," flashes that used to work, and a printed out personality report from one of those machines at the state fair ... the one I attended with my daughters, have been rearranged once again and are ALL back, safe and sound in their place in my chest.

... You understand. ... ... Excuse me while I get a tissue! ...

♦ Hope you'll let me share YOUR stories and photos here at my residence "In a Nutshell." Email me at nutshellstories@gmail.com.