Well the time has come for me to pack and clean everything (hence the Uno post) and I'm now cleaning out my last shelf -- the "feel-good" shelf that I've been in the habit of making ever since my first year of boarding school. The feel-good shelf is the shelf that breaks up a bookcase full of
text books and other unpleasantness and contains ONLY things that I love -- usually cards or little trinkety gifts given to me over the course of the year. In boarding school, there was usually a shrine of some sort to my favourite Sanrio character, Pekkle (pictured rather provocatively in the image to the right), some Miss Saigon paraphernalia, and a couple photos of my cat.
Some things in the feel-good shelf (seen in the lower half of the photo, below) will go with me to New Haven (like my Turkish bowl, my Syrian box, a photo of my sister and her daughter covered in tropical birds in Maui, the large soup cup Dr. Juicy mad
e for me for Valentine's day, my photo of Roger Federer with a personalized autograph made out to me!, and my rock from a river in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains), but some things won't. For that reason, I'll memorialize them here (note how transitional justice mechanisms such as memorials have invaded my psyche!).
When I first moved back to NYC, Earth Ball made me a sweet care package that included a superman action figure (since I am superchunk, after all!), and cookie dough (long since eaten).
I'm also giving up some of my Christmas stocking stuffers and little things from my mom and sister, including a cartoon "secrets of life" calender. Here are some of the top secrets (the calendar included 16 months):
- A new year means you can put the past behind you and make all new mistakes.
- Always tell the truth...but have a backup plan.
- If at first you don't succeed...keep it to yourself.
- The best things in life are free. Everything else can be charged.
- In the true spirit of the holidays, help others...help them decide what to get you.
I'll also be getting rid of my set of Dora the Explorer stickers, the various chicky things my mom sent me for Easter (of course I'm keeping the lapel pin! lol), a set of noisemakers, and a classic cartoons dvd singalong (don't ask where my mother gets this stuff!), as well as a note from Dr. Juicy that she left me one time when I was going to be at her house without her, which begins: "Just a reminder, check the expiration date on any food before you eat it!" looool
One of the more significant things I'm getting rid of is the token box of mints from my farewell dinner with Pookie (and a friend of his) at Brasserie 8 1/2 before I left for Egypt, back when we were still dating. I've had them with me for three years now, and taken them back and forth across the Atlantic, and I think it's safe to say that no amount of mints could change the taste that relationship left in my mouth (great guy, but really lame way to let a relationship die -- to his credit he did send me a nice Lichtenstein card on my birthday and has tried to be there for me this year even though we aren't in regular contact).
I'm also saying goodbye to the limited edition Cinnabon chapstick that Earth Ball got me :)
Going through all the cards and things I've received over the past year, the following rank in my top few:
- A gorgeous photo of the Swiss alps from the same friend who got me the Federer autograph (not Swissy -- just a friend)
- A funny card from my mom for Valentine's Day with an old 1950s add for hotdog buns and the June Cleaver figure saying: "Nice buns." lol (It's also adorable because you can see, inside, how the inability to draw hearts was genetically passed-down to me from my mother)
- Some REALLY cute puppy and kitty cards from my mom, including one that is a nice photo of a cat contemplating a goldfish in a bowl (I'm taking that with me to New Haven with the intent of framing it), and a funny photo of a dog sticking its head out a car window (wearing sunglasses) and on the inside of the card it says: "Hope you have a sun-in-your-face, wind-in-your-hair kind of day," but then she crossed out "sun" and wrote "clouds" since she knows I prefer it overcast -- that was for my 25th birthday.
- An ADORABLE kitty card from my mom with this cat that says "I think all people are basically nice. Except you." And then you open it up and it says: "You're basically wonderful." :)
- A really gorgeous 3D pop-up card of the Empire State Building (but all in white, and finely-cut paper, so really minimalist and not gaudy at all) wishing me a happy 25th from Earth Ball's roommate (also a friend from boarding school).
There are too many cards and little things from the shelf for me to mention them all here, but I feel really thankful that I know such thoughtful people, and I'm happy that I can fill an entire shelf with "feel-good" reminders of the people I love.
VC