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I’m on a quest to clear my closet of anything I don’t use. It feels odd, when faced with something I took years to accumulate and actually had a lot of fun with, to let that thing go because I’ve moved on to other things. These things hold many memories, and yet…I don’t need them. My inner pack rat says “keep it!” and my new hobbies say “toss it!”. It’s a strange sort of war. And, because I hate vague posts that never really explain the exact thing under discussion, I’ll tell you…I’m getting rid of all my stamping craft supplies. As in Stampin’ Up. Crafty types will know what I mean.

I spent countless hours losing myself in the the act of creation. It would take me six hours to make a scrapbook page. Can you imagine? Me, the digital girl, slowing down for six HOURS? I can hardly believe it myself. My friends and I used to gather for Stamp Camp, wherein we’d spend a fun afternoon making cards, drinking wine or other such beverages, nibbling on tasty tidbits and visiting with each other while our hands twisted and glued and inked. I miss those moments. I’ve moved, and my friends are thousands of miles away. This new place? I love it, but I have yet to really crawl out of my writer cave and meet actual live, in person, humans. The kind you can visit with, go shopping with, talk about your day with.

And I have to confess, without that group of friends to provide company, scrapbooking and card making became a lonely sort of process. So it slowly faded to the back of my closet, neatly tucked away in plastic bins that took over one entire wall. I’ve moved on. I’m a digital girl at heart and my passion has moved on to photography. Now I make photo books, instead of scrapbooks. I go out into the world to find new places to shoot, instead of sit in a room and play with paper. I like it. It’s not a bad thing at all, it’s a great thing. But it means I do need to let go of that thing that’s filling up my closet and clouding my heart with the past. It’s time to rip the band aid off, close my eyes, and let it go.

I’ve found someone who will use all my stuff, but I have to put a value on it. And I’m wondering…how do I put a price on all that these things represent? Can’t be done.

So tell me, are you a pack rat?