Monday, August 27, 2007

Sentimental or Disturbing?

I was cleaning out my underwear drawer after church yesterday - what, isn't that what everyone does on a lazy Sunday afternoon? Oh. Just me.

The drawer had been bothering me for quite some time. Too much stuff was crammed inside, and by stuff, I mean things other than underwear. The drawer has become a catch-all for all the little things that I don't want to misplace - immunization records, birth certificates, patriarchal blessings, a love letter or two, a sewing kit, and cards.

Oh, the cards. I think there's birthday, anniversary and Mother's Day cards from the last 19 years in there. I ought to give them back to Troy and just tell him to re-give them to me - cards are so expensive. There's probably a hundred dollars worth of cards stacked up in the back of my drawer. The Mother's Day cards show the most change: the years when they were just from Troy, trying to ease my broken heart, then the ones signed by Troy for Cam and Aaron, before they could write their names, and for the most recent years, where the boys signed for themselves. How far I've come in motherhood.


There are two heart-shaped cardboard boxes stuffed to one side - gifts from either a first or second grade class. One holds a love note and the other holds my original wedding rings - the main diamond fell out last October. They take up a good amount of space, but I just can't throw them away. I throw the school papers away with no problem, but the boys remember the boxes, and besides, they have their pictures modge-podged on the lids. How can I toss those out?


Then there was a bulky wad of Ziploc bags - at least a dozen. Guess what was inside...


Teeth. Lots of teeth.

They weren't labeled. Some are Cam's and some are Aaron's, but I don't know which. There were no dates or anything to sweetly remind me of ages and milestones. And without those things...face it, now it's just a bag of teeth, right?

There were also two envelopes full of hair.

These are Cameron's curls that got cut at his first haircut when he was two years old.


And this is what came off of Aaron's head when he was just a couple months old.

I straightened things up, got a little more particular about which underwear to keep, and in the end, kept it all, every card, every little gift from school, every tooth, every strand of hair.

Am I sentimental...or just mental? Drawer full of priceless memories...or am I just the lady who keeps baggies of teeth and hair tucked away with her unmentionables?

What do you keep, what do you throw away?

And what's the funniest/oddest thing you ever wanted to keep for "sentimental" reasons?


7 comments:

Unknown said...

I keep teeth!!! I don't know whose I have or when they were lost...but I have 'em!! I think maybe the coolest thing(s) I have are a birthday card and some recipe cards with my mom's handwriting (she passed away just before my 18th birthday). I should really look for those, shouldn't I?

Also in MY underwear drawer....gum!! I buy gum in bulk at Sam's Club and hide it in my undie's drawer...the boys don't look in there!!

ash said...

I keep papers. Stacks and stacks of papers that I can't seem to part with. Then I spend Sunday afternoon shuffling through and end up making new stacks and folders and color coding things! I feel very Monica Gellar sometimes.

I had never thought of saving the girls teeth when they fall out. But what else are you going to do with them?

Suz Q Free Tibet said...

I totally save my childrens teeth in my underwear drawer! We are twins! I originally thought...I will know who's teeth are which...I now have no clue. I also have a letter that my mom gave me in the temple on my wedding day. This is probably the most important item I have ever gotten from my mom. I plan on doing the same thing for my daughter on her wedding day. Maybe she will keep it in her underwear drawer! LOL

Queen of Hearts said...

Sounds weird, but I really wanted to keep the umbilical cord from our baby. They had originally cut it long, then let Richard cut it shorter. But, in the end we let the nurses throw it away with chuckles of where would we keep it, in the freezer next to the pizzas and chicken?
p.s. this is mrsbezanson, gmail is only allowing me to use this name now, or mykteacher account.

Kristine said...

I have only underwear in said drawer. However in my lingerie drawer are: 3-D glasses(7), gum, gloves, pamphlets from Maui, lingerie, empty envelopes that were holding cash and a lint remover.

My husbands drawer has the teeth!!

Angi said...

My underwear drawer is just that, but my sock drawer has hair scrunchies, socks, sachets that don't smell anymore and a bandana from every girls camp I attended when I was in your ward...

I keep teeth too!! We get them out every now and then so the boys can look at them. Don't tell my mom though she'd be mortified.

dishes and laundry said...

Thank you, everyone, for making me feel better about the teeth!
And Mrs. B. - I totally would have kept my boys' umbilical cords - If Jeffrey hadn't eaten them both. MMM...jerky.

I'm starting to think that keeping teeth isn't an oddity after all - thanks everyone!