Skeletons in the Closet

The title of this blog sounds MUCH more scandalous than it really is going to be. Too bad so sad. However, you do learn a lot about yourself when you clean out your closet.

Last night, beginning around midnight, I started going through my closet. I had already started a donation bag weeks earlier and decided to do a more thorough search to see if there was anything else I'd like to give up. I do this about once a year and my rule is, not matter how much I like that shirt at the back of my closet that I totally forgot about, if I haven't worn it in a year, it's a goner.

Throughout this process I came to the realization that clothes are funny things to me.

First of all, I love them far too much, yet I always seem more than ready to get new ones. Going through my closet I realized I could probably re-evaluate and create an entirely new line up of outfits out of clothes I already own. So why I feel such a great need to get new outfits is beyond me. Maybe it's because shopping means CHANGE. It means throwing out the old and bringing in the new. It means my tastes have changed and I want to try a new look. I've grown up, I want to be more bold, I want to re-invent myself.

But when going through old clothes, you gain a very clear understanding that clothes carry baggage. I have never come in contact with something in my life that is no inanimate and yet SO emotion driving. That shirt I wore when I met my husband = fond memories, love, happiness; that skirt my mother bought me for graduation and I have grown out of the style and never worn since = guilt; the top that I wore when I danced on that table at that dance = pride/embarrassment? (it SHOULD embarrass me at least); that pair of cut offs I keep around for painting a house (which who on EARTH knows when THAT will even happen) = my dreams; that pair of jeans I looked super sexy in in that ONE picture from college = the spunk of my single days. All of these items are so hard to get rid of because they are representations of my journey in life.

I hate that they do.

I need to de-clutter my life (in more ways than one) and so...sweet articles of clothing, I bid you adieu as you meet new owners and cling to new skin. May you start a new life of your own and help someone else create new memories.