Purge

My genetic code includes a chromosome that's predisposed to pack rat.

I come by it naturally - naturally - my mother and father are both notorious for holding on to way too much junk including but not limited to used Cool Whip containers, pie tins, dated industry journals/binders/books, Southern Living magazines, old suits/coats/sweaters/dresses/shirts/shoes etc. My mother has so many wine glasses and water goblets that she has to store them in the kitchen, dining room, wet bar in the basement and also in a bookcase in my room.

Surely you can understand how I came to be this way.

I have trouble getting rid of stuff, too.

I have drawers full of old birthday cards, used tissue paper and dusty mix tapes.

My closet is stuffed with flannel shirts, holey sweaters and shoes I wore in college.

Oh, and the magazines.


I've saved every Cincinnati, Travel & Leisure, Gourmet, and Cook's Illustrated that I've collected over the past three years. I also had a pile of travel magazines I had pilfered from a variety of airplanes over the years.

I also found a few Cosmos and Janes in the mix.

Just as I have a very hard time saying goodbye to people - it is quite obvious I have a tough time saying goodbye to my belongings.

But my friend Jos says it's high time to get rid of some of my crap - and I agree. Jos says anything I could want to read about in any of my magazines is online these days, and as reluctant I am to admit it, he's right.

I picked my favorite 15 or so. The rest went in the trash - along with a junked up stereo and a dead tv I've held onto for about two years.

It's time to get rid of a few things I've been hanging onto - in my heart, in my head and in my home.