Friday, July 22, 2011

The Junk Drawer

Everyone has one. In it goes all the odds and ends, the tidbits that lack another logical home, and glimpses of our lives, habits, where we’ve been and what we’ve done. I speak, of course, of the Junk Drawer.

What’s in yours? What story does it tell?

One glance in my Junk Drawer tells much of my tale.

It is neat and orderly, which seems oxymoronical for a Junk Drawer.

You’ll see expired ski passes – mine, my sweetie’s, my youngest son’s. Those are in the front, left-hand corner.

And pens (yes, they all work), more pens than I could use in a lifetime. There are pens from faraway Marriotts and Hiltons. There are pens from exotic resorts in Jamaica, Mexico, Italy and France. There are a gajillion from Panhandle State Bank – do I get those when I make deposits or withdrawals?

Over here is a stack of coupons, long expired – pizza, girl products, toothbrushes. Guess I paid full price.

Batteries are rolling around in the Junk Drawer. I wonder if they are dead or alive.

Look, it’s the itty bitty screwdrivers my dad used to use. When he passed away, I got all of his hand tools. Funny, that’s all I would have wanted. Oh, and his old, beat up, well traveled leather jacket. What else would the Tomboy daughter want? I can’t count the hours I spent, as a wee lass, retrieving tools from the shed for my dad. Yes, I have brothers but … By the time I was 5 years old, I knew my way around the tool chests. If he yelled for a 7mm socket wrench, by golly that’s what I delivered. I always loved these mini-screwdrivers. Heck, they’re so cute, Barbi could love them.

In the back right corner is the organizer box. One compartment for needles for the bike and ball air pump, another has spare game parts – Monopoly, Cribbage. I’ve got push pins, straight pins and needles … Pins and Needles? Here is some florist wire, which is one of the handiest things a girl can have on hand. Well, that and cammo duct tape! I’ve got nails and screws, for nailing and screwing. There are wall anchors of all shapes and sizes, Canada coins and rubber bands.

You’ll find a couple of decks of cards – full decks, a cribbage board, and a local phone book. And where did all of these wine corks come from?

Finally, there are the keys. What are all these keys? What did they open or lock? When last used, did they leave things locked or unlocked? I like to think unlocked, that the last click the doors and padlocks felt was one of opening - of freedom.

Instead of throwing away the key, I put it in the only logical place, my Junk Drawer