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| Here's the crew of cups. Aren't they a funky bunch! |
Am I the only one who keeps coffee mugs and towels for sentimental value? I swear, I have more coffee cups on a shelf in the garage just "because I gave it to my dad for fathers day in 1802" than I have tools! I just can not bring myself to get rid of them. We have small cabinets and we like to keep an actual set in there that all look the same. We do have two or three in the back that I use, but if I kept all of the sentimental ones in the cupboard it would look like we were the neighborhood Goodwill. Is this weird?
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| Now isn't this one a beauty? This came from my Grammy. I always loved this set when I was a little girl and she remembered that! The last time I went home she gave me her cups! I actually do use this one a lot. |
Now, before you say that I could reuse them for other things, know that I have. I have used one as a pencil holder for years and I don't even use the pens or pencils in there! It's just an excuse to keep the cup around and out in the open! I used another one for toothbrushes, hair elastics, flowers, loose change and as Christmas decorations! So, I know that I
can reuse them, but when you are trying to go for the decluttered, minimalist look, random coffee mugs don't make the cut.
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| This one cracks me up. I think my sister actually got this for my dad. Classic! |
This next one might be even more weird. Towels. I have a ratty old bath towel that is from 20 years ago. It is the only one I have from growing up. It has millions of holes in it and is fraying, but it is so soft and just makes me think of when my dad would get out of the shower and have it wrapped around his waist. I can picture it now...walking out of the shower with the vanilla colored towel wrapped around his waist, a cotton swab in his ear and smelling like Old Spice and Irish Spring.
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| Here it is in all its glory! My husband helped me figure out the best way to show you it's ridiculousness!! He calls this "the ghost" |
Most of the towels I keep are beach towels. My sister has all of our beach towels from when we were kids and I haven't gotten the nerve to ask her for one because maybe she is keeping them for the same reason! Beach towels meant a lot in our family. It was a
BIG THING to get a beach towel because we only got the REALLY NICE ones. Ya know, the super soft, thick ones with your favorite Disney character on them? I know my sister got one of Shamu, the killer whale and I was
SOOO JEALOUS because it was so vibrant and beautiful. I had a mickey mouse one and I think the other one was just blue with dolphins and beach balls on it. They remind me of the best time of my life.
Every year my dad took us to Old Orchard Beach (OOB) in Maine (where I grew up) for a week, usually for the 4th of July. We stayed in cheap hotels that were so cool. They were basically a step up from tenting out. We would go to the beach and play for a bit, but then we got so spoiled. We played games and won cheap stuffed animals, ate cotton candy, fried dough and french fries with vinegar on them until the cows came home and had a blast on all of the rides. The Matterhorn...that thing was so scary and hurt so bad. My sister had to go on it with me and she'd get so mad that I was touching her! How can you
NOT touch the person you are getting smooshed into while centrifugal force is at its peak!? Then we'd go back to the hotel, or sometimes little one bedroom cottage and light up sparklers and morning glories and eat s'mores by a fire-pit. It was fabulous! I think my parents saved all year long just so we could go nuts and live large at OOB.
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| OOB July 4th 19?? |
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| Outside one of the shacks we stayed in. Love my sweet perm... |
So, I guess it is just hard for me to throw those things away. I don't have much from my childhood. No toys, no clothes and only a few pictures, so I like to hold on to what I have. When I'm 80 and have dementia, maybe that one beach towel or a drink from an old coffee cup will bring me back to reality!
What things do you have that you just can't force yourself to give up? Do you think mine are strange or is this the norm? I'd LOVE to hear what you have as sentimental value from your past!
