Confessions of a Hoarder

I confess, I am a hoarder. I know, I really shouldn't be after 16ish moves in 12 years and a season of homelessness, but I am. This week I threw out two things that I have held on to for probably way too long - or at least Glenn thinks so ;)

The first thing was my pair of EMS flip flops. I got them off the clearance rack *several* years ago at EMS. They had been returned by someone I am guessing and they only cost about $2 but they were nice flip flops I have never found their equal and therefore I have kept them for a long time even though I started feeling rocks through them and the cover of the top has worn off. (I know that there was a melted place on the front of them that I got from the heater at Grandma Hansen's house if that is any indication of how old they are.) I can't remember which October was the first October that they were supposed to be thrown away (October 15 is when we put our summer stuff up until 4/15 when we get them out again) but this October they finally made it to the trash because the part between the toes on one side finally snapped when I was at flute rehearsal a few weeks back. I almost cried. I probably would have if I had been home, not out in public. So long my favorite flip flops ever. May I someday find your equal.

The second thing was my pillow. I have had my pillow for a long time. I got it from the reject pillow pile that they were getting rid of from the cabins. We housekeepers were allowed to take a pillow from the pile back when I was an SIC at WOL FCG. I actually squabbled with one of my housekeeper girls over it. (A fact I am embarrassed about now...) It was a great pillow. Again, I have never been able to find it's equal and so I've just kept using it. It started it's decline (really, Sonja? Started??) last summer when we boiled all of our pillows to get rid of a pest. Boiling water does not do nice things for just about any piece of material that you put in it and my pillow was no exception. I have not been sleeping well for a while and finally decided this week that my pillow had to go. (It may have been something about a fact that I read in some magazine lately about old pillows containing all kinds of mites and dead skin cells. It said something about 1/4 of a pillow's weight may be made up of them - GROSS! Glenn joked that my pillow was probably closer to 90%). Anyway, so long pillow. You served me well, long past the first time you were tossed aside.

I close this confession with a poem that I wrote about my flip flops last November when we were making poems for school:

My EMS Flip Flops

Worn, like they've been well loved
Comfy, as though made for me
Silent, as they traverse the earth
Fresh like earth and air.