Memories

Peter Walsh is a genius.

While watching his show on the new OWN (oprah winfrey network) he said something that was so true it changed the way I am thinking of my clutter problem.

He said that there are two types of clutter. One was memory clutter and one was "I-may-need-this-later" clutter. He then challenged this poor mother who was suffering from memory clutter to pick three items in one minute that she can not live without. She couldn't do it.

This had me thinking about what I would choose if I only had one minute. The key to this was you had to know where the items were located in your house.

The first one was a no brainer. I would take my wedding album. That was, without a shadow of a doubt, the happiest day of my life. It was like living my very own episode of "This is Your Life". All of those people were there to share in my love for Dave, and because I meant something to them. I tend to lead my life in a vaccuum and never really think that I impact people either in a good way or a bad way. I often feel invisible. This is not a good thing or a bad thing, it is just the way I am. That day, more than any other, proved that I do not go unnoticed.

The other things were much harder to pick. I chose my bag of pictures of the kids and my memory cards from my camera. I am not sure that Peter would approve of this because my bag us a huge handled bag from Kaufmanns. It holds A TON of pictures. It is no secret that my kids mean everything to me. They make me laugh and cry almost every day. I love them more each day, so much so that it sometimes hurts my stomach. I am indeed a lucky girl.

The third thing is still up in the air. I think it is the blue bowl that used to sit on Uncle Joe's dining room table. This is probably because it reminds me of all the people that have made such a huge impact on my life. I am not lucky enough to still have my grandparents. In fact, I never even got to meet my dad's parents. Through Uncle Joe I feel like I knew them. My mom's parents were only with me for a short time, but in that time they loved me enough for a lifetime. It is because of Papa that I can not eat the top of my banana for fear of spider eggs, prefer fresh bakery bread to almost any other food, and I always fill my gas tank up when I get to a quarter of a tank. Okay, not always, but when it gets there I think I should.

The power of what Peter said about the memory clutter is that now I know I don't need things to remember. They may bring me comfort, but it is more important to feel serentiy in your house than to see reminders of things that will always be in your heart.

I feel like I have been set free.