Cast aside.....

Its been a funny old day
With a housemove potentially looming, I've been trying to declutter. Its relatively simple to get rid of "things"....how many duvet covers does one person really need? Books (ok....not many books), clothes, ornaments.....all fairly simple to sort through and discard.

Memories on the other hand, are a whole different ballgame.
I'm a sucker for a card, a deflated helium balloon from a significant event, a dried flower, a pig fashioned from a toilet roll by a small boy, a felt frog pincushion made by a small girl.......however, after the significant birthday on Monday, that's a LOT of memories!! Two weddings, two children, two grandchildren.....(clearly I have much in common with Noah!!), holidays, tokens of friendship, concert programmes, a wedding tiara, a school hat, homemade calendars and so. many. cards! Memories are so personal. All the things I've kept will mean nothing to most other people and I've no doubt that my children will have a ceremonial bonfire to get rid of it all in the future!

In the end I went with my gut, looking at each thing and seeing how I felt about it. If it made me smile, I kept it.

Some things, that should have been happy were now unhappy and things that should have made me sad, made me smile because of other memories they triggered.
Lots of cards were got rid of, but I've kept every one from my children.

It's good to be reminded of good times and special people, but if we give old memories too much space, then there we have no room for new ones.

(In case any Rod Stewart fans are offended by the thought of him being cast aside, I did replace my cassette (a 17th birthday present from a friend!) with a second hand vinyl version...I think we can pretty much guarante that cassette tapes will not be making a massive comeback any time soon!!)