I was completely ok with this. I mean, I've been on a decluttering kick at my own house for the last year and a half, so it makes sense that they'd get rid of the stuff that's been sitting in my old room for the last 10 years. In fact, I was asked if there was anything I wanted out of the room. Aside from my old flute, I figured I clearly didn't need anything that had been sitting there untouched for the last decade. But aren't pictures different?
Since I'm living in a different state, I wasn't there to do the clearing out myself (not that I'd want to...). So, I was relying on my mom and sister to do the job. Old size 4 jeans, college text books, stuffed animals.....all the things I was thinking they'd toss. Then, I got the news.
In high school, I had one real boyfriend. Only one. My sister went through boyfriends frequently, but not me. Apparently, I had left a gift box in my old room with mementos from that relationship. Little things, nothing major. But there were pictures. We're not talking a whole album here....probably a dozen or less. In my mind they were proof that this one boyfriend had existed, and frankly, a part of my history. And my sister threw them out! She told me at Thanksgiving in a very "oh, by the way" sort of way, and finished up with "You didn't want them, did you?"
What am I supposed to say to that? They're gone already, right? Was I going to frame them and hang them in my family room? No. But when I'm 80, maybe I'd like to show my grandkids a picture or two of their granny with big hair and a boyfriend. I'm just saying. Now, I will only have my wedding pictures show.
