Clean Sweep

I just revisited 30 years of my life over the past 2 days.  Amazing that cleaning a closet is akin to an archaeological dig.  What was I thinking to keep all that stuff?  But I am getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday I came across my wedding dress from 30 plus years ago.  I knew it was somewhere in the house, but it still surprised me when I opened the box labeled 'Diane'.  It is a beautiful dress and still in good shape.  Somehow I couldn’t quite  bring myself to take it to Goodwill.  Any ideas on what you do with an old wedding dress?

And then were the decorating phases.  I must have saved every throw pillow I ever owned.  Actually with some sewing skills and my thrifty ways, I usually made pillow covers that matched the décor.  Pale pink and light green along with shades of orange pillow covers were a part of my Cedar Rapids days.  A blue and white braided rug took me back to my wonderful 3-season porch where books and naps often beckoned.  Maroon sheets and comforters were part of my early days in this house which tied to a 'lovely' carpet of the same color. 

Waves of distant laughter washed over me as I pulled Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit off the shelf.   Pente and Backgammon brought me back to early years of my first marriage. The Harley Davidson coloring book brought back memories of coloring with the small son of good friends (he is now in his 20's).

Imagine my surprise at finding a bear rug wrapped up in a large garbage bag! Actually I made Mike open it since I didn't want to touch it!   I do not recall anything about this rug, but maybe I just blocked it out of my head.  I'm at a loss on who would want this rug as I don't think Goodwill would take it.  Suggestions?

And like my mother and grandmother before me who saved scraps of material for quilts, I also saved leftover material from my sewing projects.  I found scraps from an Amish quilt I made years ago.  And then there were leftovers from all those pillow covers and curtains.

I made a clean sweep of most of these items with a couple of trips to the Goodwill.  It really was cathartic to get rid of this stuff!  Of course some things I couldn't let go including  the coloring book,  the scraps of fabric, a couple of  college t-shirts (you just can't get rid of a little 500 biking t-shirt) and one of my dad's Pepsi uniform shirts.  I do have to ask myself why I needed so much stuff to begin with and why I kept it so long.  Definitely points to a different way in the future...


Diane