My box
As many of you know, part of the appeal of our trip has been the notion that we’ll be getting rid of all our personal belongings, save one box for each of us. The size of the box was undetermined and the only “rule” was that if it could fit in the box it could be kept. Well, I finished packing my one box on Friday night.
After going through most of our possessions, I’ve gotten pretty good at sorting into piles of box-worthy and trash/Goodwill/yard sale-worthy items. At first it was difficult to determine whether my old Mineralogy exam was box-worthy or trash-worthy, but as the box filled up my attitude changed. Items that seemed pretty important, such as my vast rock collection (they are so pretty! and they are from Alaska!), are no longer difficult to part with (although I’d rather give them to a deserving soul than to leave them in my landlord’s garden, so if you’d like some rocks, speak up now!).
So, what did I determine to be box-worthy? Well, pretty much what you’d probably save as mementos of your own life. My box includes:
::Summer kimono, obi, and geta – a going-away present from friends in Japan.
::”Appetite for Life,” the biography of Julia Child. You think you know who Julia Child was? Did you know that she didn’t start cooking until her late thirties, after she had traveled in Asia during World War II? She’s amazing…
::A tattered, disintegrating copy of my Dad’s leather-bound college geography textbook.
::Childhood Christmas ornaments – how can you get rid of this stuff?
::Wedding program and sign-in book
::2002 – 2003 daily planner from Japan – I love looking back at my schedule filled with days of yoga, jogging, and having long lunches with friends…teehee. Life sure was good then!
::Love letters from D, 1990 – 1997
::Korean traditional dress my friend Sung Youn’s mother made for me
::Hand-embroidered cloth for a bread bowl my mother made for us
::Wooden shoe-polishing box which belonged to my dad (and belonged to my grandfather?)
So, that’s pretty much everything in my box. Pretty good, eh?
Oh, and did I neglect to mention the four boxes full of photos, yearbooks, newspaper clippings, and Buffy DVDs which I packed up and left with my in-laws? Technically, I don’t think those boxes don’t count in “my box,” since there is no way I could have ever parted with that stuff.
– s
admin
June 14th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
Clearly you were Asian in a past life — or is it this one?
July 6th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Uh..hmm…1 box?…plus things at my house…and at mom’s house…and did I tell you that you got more mail yesterday than my entire household?
Of course, your condensing craze has got me assessing my surroundings…some things must go! (I got $41 for some baby items at the resale shop.) Not so much that I end up living like a traditional “Sister Kate” might, but simpler is definately better. I don’t want my children to grow up in a convent…not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not for me.