What I Learned While Cleaning Out Our House
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Politics and Activism

What I Learned While Cleaning Out Our House

Old memories, new perspective.

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What I Learned While Cleaning Out Our House
Ottawa Citizen

Recently my mother and I purged and cleaned our house's storage room. The room was filled to the brim with stuff that has been accumulating over the twelve years we’ve lived in the house, so we dedicated a week to clean it out, and that still wasn’t enough. We had to sort through every little thing in the room, and decide whether or not it was something important enough to our family to keep. Consequently, I learned a few things along the way.

Some memories have to be parted with.

We went through a lot of stuff this past week. We found old books, clothes, toys, stuffed animals. You name it and we probably found it in that room. Sitting down and sorting through everything, every little thing that meant something to you at some part in your life, you have to make difficult choices about what to keep. There were some items that I knew had to stay right when I saw them, because they meant too much to me. But there were some things that I knew it was time to let go of, even though they were once important to me.

Times have really changed since my parents were younger.

I know this seems like an obvious statement, but it deserves to be furthered. The memories that my mother found from her childhood looked very different than mine. And in some ways, it made me sad. She had so many beautifully crafted dolls and figurines that you could tell were so sentimental. In contrast, all I had were stuffed animals. My mom would tell me stories about how she would save up her money to go to the toy store to buy one of these dolls, and she remembered it so fondly. I didn’t have that same connection to my things.

My mom and dad worked hard to give us the life we have.

Following my previous realization, I recognized how hard my parents worked to give us a life where we didn’t have to worry. We never had to save up our pennies to go buy a stuffed animal we loved. We never had to wonder whether or not our parents could afford to buy us a toy we wanted. I’m so thankful to my parents for working tirelessly to give us such a wonderful life. And I’m so thankful to my grandparents for teaching my parents crucial lessons.

Finally, I am so incredibly blessed.

I already knew this one, but this trip down memory lane served as a reaffirmation. Like I said before, my parents have worked so hard to give us a life without worry. They were able to do so many things to make wonderful memories with us and give us everything we wanted. I know that everyone doesn’t have the same luxury, and I need to thank my parents more often for giving us the life we have.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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