cleaning out the closet

I suppose you might call it Spring Cleaning, but I call it long overdue.  One of the great features of my apartment (apart from high ceilings, hardwood floors, loads of windows, a full-size bathtub, and an excellent location) is the ginormous walk-in closet.  It's an odd L-shape, cupped as it is around my smaller bathroom.  The main body of the closet extends back about 8 feet, with 10' ceilings, and then there's a little cubby about 2' square off to the right at the front.

Th primary closet-rod is about halfway back, with another behind it about 7' off the ground.  What this makes is a generous space to throw shit, out of sight and out of mind, behind the hanging clothes in the inaccessible part of the closet.  For three+ years I've been throwing empty boxes and any odd or end I wanted to keep but never see.  It had gotten to the point that the frontline closet detritus (shoes, bags, cleaning supplies) was beginning to creep forward and closing the door had become a bit of a challenge.  I bought a thingy at Ikea to store towels and linens and I had no choice but to make space for it... so into the depths of the closet I delved.

I knew I had a lot of memorabilia back there, including about 2 reams of letters from my friends in high school, but I had forgotten that I had also stored all of the bits and pieces of my childhood saved by my grandma as well.  One large box packed full of folders containing the likes of 4th grade essays.  I openly lack sentimentality, and I can't imagine what good she thought keeping every school report and drawing I made as a child would do anyone.  I had already thrown out the many locks of my hair she saved from haircuts, and yet somehow I still have a chalk handprint on a napkin made by 2 yr old me.

I come from a family of collectors.  The accumulation of nostalgia has surrounded me since birth, and perhaps it a form of self protection to lack sentimentality.  At the same time, though, I keep stuff.  Almost against my own will.  I have a kitchen cupboard that is packed with empty yogurt containers that might come in handy someday.  I accumulate books and shoes at an alarming rate.  I admire those who can live simply, and I aspire to that state of un-clutter.  Right now I still have some work to do.  However much I get rid of... it's never quite enough.