There’s something about this time of year that compels me to clean up and get organized. Most people do that in the spring, but for me, it’s always a fall ritual. The other day, I emptied the scary closet.
You probably have a scary closet like this one. It’s jammed full of odds and ends, and you’re not really sure what’s in it. No one opens the door, and when someone does, that person might scream. (Or things might fall out.) Until a few days ago, I had a scary closet, but not anymore.
What did I find in that scary closet? Well, there were a couple of wooden yardsticks, which jumped out at me as soon as I opened the door. (At least they didn’t yell “BOO!”) There were a lot of clear plastic dry cleaner bags and those zippered plastic bags from sheet sets – I probably saved them because they looked useful. (They didn’t yell “boo” either.) Instead of using them, I jammed them into the closet, where they collected dust and spider webs. Out they went! I also found stacks of old Christmas cards. I used to make gift tags with them the next year, but haven’t done that for a long time. Into the recycling box they went. There were a couple of mismatched lamp shades, which had marks on them, so they headed out, as well.
It wasn’t all junk, though. Part of my herd of vintage sewing machines is stored in there, so I revisited all of them. (Even sewing machines need to be patted once in a while.) I found a brand new set of sheets for the bed. Really nice ones. I don’t remember buying them, much less stashing them in the scary closet, so they were a welcome discovery. I also found the extra links for my stainless steel watch, the ones I’ve been looking for since it got too tight. I took the pieces to the watch guy and now I can wear the watch again. (ha!)
I also found boxes of photo albums – so THAT’s where they went! – so Mr. Math and I spent some time this weekend going through them. Some of the pictures made us laugh, others made us smile. A few were bittersweet, as the people in them have passed away. (I should send some of the old school pix to my niece and nephew, just to torment them!)
In a box labelled “MISC”, I found my old camp blanket from Girl Guides, which had all my badges sewn on to it. Miscellaneous indeed. We used to take a cheap blanket and cut a hole in the middle to make a poncho, then wear it as an extra layer at night around the campfire. Of course, camp ponchos had to be embellished! Those grey cotton waste blankets used to be really common (and cheap) but I haven’t seen one for sale in years. I’d forgotten about my skating badges, although now I wonder how I could have blotted out the memory of that endless stream of Wednesday afternoons after school at the rink. (I was a lousy figure skater, just didn’t have enough verve on the ice. I think the badges were awarded out of pity.) My badges from Brownies and Girl Guides were there, along with the two cords I earned in Girl Guides (the All ‘Round cord and the Canada cord). We used to swap regional badges at camp from our respective areas, so I have quite a collection of those – and still a few to swap from my own troop’s area. It was kind of fun to spread them all out and try to remember what the various merit badges were for. Mr. Math was fingering the blanket, so I’ve washed it up and donated it to his collection of polishing cloths.
I also found a fabulous poster for KISS OF FATE, one that NAL produced for me for booksignings. It’s on foamcore and is 19″ by 29″. That was one of my favourite Dragonfire covers, so now I have it displayed in my office. 🙂 Here it is with a copy of the actual book:
So, do you have a scary closet? What’s stashed away in yours?
Deborah Cooke: Author 