I guess we could call it Spring Cleaning <3

About a month ago, we replaced the carpet in our bedroom. This involved clearing out everything from our closets, toting drawers and miscellaneous baskets o’books out to the living room and clearing everything off of every surface. 

It was eye-opening and somewhat disturbing. 

After the new carpet was installed, we quickly reassembled the drawers and put out essential items as we realized we needed them. It took a while to address the other accumulated stuff from the tops of dressers and such and it has been nice to dust without facing so many ticket stubs, broken pieces of jewelry I intended to repair, packages of shoelaces, coins, earrings I meant to put away…etc, etc, etc.

The other piece of this puzzle was our closets. 

I had stacked hangers of clothing on a guest bed after I ran out of room in the spare closet down the hall. As I started returning items, I really only grabbed things I wear fairly consistently. After a while I realized there was a reason so many things remained stacked or hung in the extra closet and so I began to fill donation bags. 

The most recent addition was this morning. 

A leopard print blouse that I absolutely loved and wore the heck out of got dropped into a giveaway bag when I finally slipped it on and realized it is too small to even wear open over a t-shirt. 

Though goodness knows, I did consider the option for longer than was really necessary.

If you were a fan of The Limited as I was, you will chuckle with me when I tell you it was one of their blouses. 

Before the store became an outlet version at our mall. 

Long before it became an outlet store. 

We are talking at least fifteen years ago. 

I haven’t worn this shirt in ages. 

And yet, it never made the donation pile year after year. As I would transition my closet from winter to spring, I would collect it up with the other “keep” items. Animal prints are always in, I would tell myself. It’s perfect with black pants and a jacket, I would say. 

But I never actually put it on. Ever. Season after season. 

So I asked myself why I had never just gotten rid of it, as I looked in the mirror and tried to imagine if I was going to kick myself next week for giving it away. 

I mean it is a classic. The style seriously is not dated and leopard remains as much a staple now as ever. But the ship has sailed for me to wear it comfortably and this has been the case for at least half of the years I have allowed it to take up space. 

All I can figure is it represents a season in my life I loved. I felt good about myself at the time I purchased it and the times around wearing it were good times. 

So I kept it. 

Until today. 

Until I actually put it on again and faced the fact that the woman who wore that shirt, while she is very much a part of me, is gone. 

Sigh.

Growing pains are never fun. 

No matter how old we are. 

As if to reinforce the message, I saw a meme on Instagram this morning that seemed pointed directly at me. 

“Memories live in your heart, not in your garage.” – Mia Lee

Or your closet, Mia. Thanks for the nudge.