Life's cluttered memories

Children attract and extract clutter. It is evident in the random things I find piled around my house, behind the bathroom door and strewn across my kitchen. I noticed it what my first child became mobile. Whatever she found to play with would magically transport itself from room to room until I would find a ribbon and a paper clip in the bathroom. Now with my second child going here, there and everywhere, I find it is even worse. The floors of my home are filled with stuff that was entertaining for a few moments, only to be discarded for something better, something of mommies.

Just today I stumbled into my pristine (I am dreaming) office after tripping over Cocoa the rocking horse in the hallway. When I created my office space, I vowed to keep it clean. I vowed to keep the children out. I vowed a lot of really unrealistic things. The office is now the favorite place for the girls to play. They love my things. I took a moment to take an inventory of the clutter on the floor: an ipod charger, WOW 1999 CD, a grade school picture of my friend Amanda's brother Brad, a chain belt I thought would look cool worn around my hips, my Greek flash cards, a hair scrunchy I haven't seen in about 9 years, and a mini rolling pin. Some of those things don't take a lot of wondering to figure out where they came from. Playing with the ipod charger is a huge "no" in our house, so that makes it a favorite toy. And the rolling pin was no doubt used for the play dough I see that someone left out. The other articles, circa 1999 caused me to think there was a breech in security on my box of keepsakes from college.

Seeing the WOW CD that I used to listen to over and over, the picture of Brad, the chain belt, the Greek flash cards, and the hair scrunchy, took me back to a time before clutter and kids; a time before the things on the floor held a mystery to their origin. Understandably, my life has gone through some changes in the last 9 years or so. What has changed the most though, and not just my taste in music, is what I find important. I compiled a list of what I held most dear to me from my college years, when I was 18 or 19 and life was relatively easy.

1. friends
2. my green wool sweater
3. Amanda's jeans, they looked better on me anyway
4. Gravy Boy, he looked so cute in a hair net
5. how to wear a hip belt properly

I miss those days sometimes, but mostly I don't. Life was good when I was 19, but I didn't know it could be so much better. Now my top five would be my husband, my girls, my extended and in-law family, our home, and my friends. I don't have any clothes that would make the list and I never figured out how to wear that belt so that I looked cool. So now the belt, along with other memories from my past litter my present pristine office. I'm okay with it, because the memories are good ones. And I love the little hands that extract clutter and place it in the child-free zone. It is just what I find important.