Dust and nostalgia.

What the heck are these?

Most years Bakersfield skips the season of spring and jumps right into summer.  But unpredictable temperatures in the last couple of months have allowed us natives to pretend we live at the beach--minus the ocean view. It is starting to warm up now, but while we were experiencing cooler weather I was inspired to do a bit of spring cleaning.

Found my red Keds!

The back bedroom closet had become a solid wall of dust and nostalgia that needed to be sifted. I took on the task while I had a week off from work, but quickly realized how much time was going to be needed for a project of this size. Boxes still packed from my last move yielded happy rediscoveries, and gobs of memories, packed away for the last twenty-five years of my life, were also found. Here was my old, green stationery box filled with school ID cards and long-ago classmates' phone numbers; letters and postcards from friends and ancient crushes; music trophies from my nerdy junior high years; and about one hundred stuffed animals whose faithful hugs I had nearly forgotten. I also found check stubs from every job I've ever held, poems and journals I'd written in my angsty 20s, and the scrapbook I made for my senior year of high school. What a thoroughly exhausting trip down memory lane!

While the closet is still not fully organized, reliving some of the old days has uncluttered my mind, at least a little. As I creep ever more quickly toward my 40th birthday, it was a good time to reflect on how far I've come, how blessed I am, and how much I'm looking forward to what the next decades bring! Done any spring cleaning lately? What's the best thing you've rediscovered?

Rediscovered Sarah Coventry bracelet which I remember wearing in the 80s!!