Yesterday afternoon I looked our
master bedroom straight in the eyes and mouthed "bring it".. This
room and I have a history of scuffles (from wallpaper removal to summer heat)
and this was going to be our "high-noon" show down minus the black
cowboy hats and shiny Smith & Wessons.
It was one of the
first days, in what seemed like an eternity, that I was able to go upstairs
during the day without finding myself perspiring profusely and smelling like a
weight room (thank you, September weather!). This meant that I would be having
my final showdown with the numerous totes full of clean and organized clothing
that dad & Crystal had arranged for us while we were away on island time
in July.
Why the animosity,
you ask? Well... Chris and I have been sleeping in a room with dimensions 8.7'
X 7.8' for entirely too long. This has mainly been due to the fact that the
master bedroom was where we took everything we needed to stash away
and not deal with for a while and the fact that we were planning on renovating
it as soon as physically possible and didn't want our bed in there being in the
way.
Well... Its been 6
months and neither of us has really got down to business with that room.. So
yesterday I went up there with the grand intention of bagging up 2/3rds of our
clothing and taking it to Goodwill in Peru... I'm pretty sure Chris owns at
least 45 pairs of jeans..some missing the crotchal region entirely.. some that
he boasts proudly that he has owned and fit into since 8th grade.. I am no innocent
here either. I'm embarrassed at the number of things hanging in my closet that
still have their original tag on them and have never been worn. A few
other of my clothing vices include hanging on to pairs of shorts I fit into
during skinny phases of the past few years, which, even if they did end up
fitting again someday, would be waaaay too short for my age anyways.
Ahh, the joys of getting older.
So as I powered
through 3 totes full of clothes, plopping every other item into a bag for
Goodwill, I gazed up at the closet in the opposite corner of the room....
Hmmmm, I thought, It would be soooo great if I could go
through his side of the closet and throw out all of those shirts that haven't
fit him for years.. Man, I would leave this room feeling like such a
rockstar....
I powered through, and almost took some joy in throwing out that white
and coral striped polo that he refused to wear because of a weird mystery
stain, and that blue and white long-sleeved polo that had morphed into a pink
collared shirt since the little red pony on the chest did not behave in the
washing machine.. Muuaahahaha! (evil laugh) I was making progress!! As I grabbed the next
hanger without really paying much attention and began stuffing the garment into
the big white trash bag, I gasped realizing what I had in my hand..... A row of
iridescent buttons peered back at me from the fat white Hefty bag. I yanked it
back out and smoothed it out on my lap..
The pearl snaps....This shirt was the shirt he had worn on our first
date over 6 years ago...I couldn't throw this one out, could I? The size on the
tag read "L".. Lord knows that Chris hadn't fit in to a large for
years now so its not like he was going to wear it again....I couldn't think for
the life of me when the last time Chris had even worn a pearl snap shirt...I
was trying to rationalize keeping the darned thing. I set it aside and told
myself I'd grab some other hangers and get back to business. The next 3 shirts
had the same effect on me. Two were pearl snaps and one was not.
These were the shirts he had on
continuous rotation during the early days of our courtship. These were the
shirts that he'd worn while laying back on the dock at Devin's pond so many
years ago looking up at the stars with me. The nights when he'd failed to
mention to me the great many bats that were swooping inches above us eating
insects, because he knew I'd freak and ruin the moment. I sat there holding these shirts
wondering what I was going to do with them... Pillows? No, the fabric was
too thin...
I folded them up nicely and put them
into a small tote at the top of our closet. Even if they might never be worn
again, I feel no guilt in keeping them. They are part of our story and I feel
lucky that they weren't thrown out a long time ago. So although I didn't exactly leave the room feeling like a rockstar, I left it feeling like a hopeless romantic and that's even better
Aww what a lovely story!! I love finding things around the house that remind me of the days when hubby and I were just dating - you just xant let go if those things for some reason !
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