Leslie,

I love your photos and your poems. I really enjoyed seeing the photos of yourself.

I have heard this logic before that because you have so many things it may appear that nothing is really valued. I also have many plastic crate boxes; they are mostly filled with piano books, clarinet books, saxophone books, recorder, flute, duets, trios, music history, music theory, music biographies that alone takes up a good part of my dining room;then my next interest in academics..I tutor my children and over the years I have gone through high school four times as I helped my kids prepare for exams and required regents tests, SAT's etc. I collected boxes of history books; anthologies of short stories, essays, classics, textbooks in sociology, chemistry, biology, earth science, math, nutrition, health education; plays, several boxes of my own papers, which I hope to publish. I also have many boxes of VHS tapes, CD's, DVD's. I have tried to get rid of some of my books, but usually as soon as I get rid of a book it seems within a week or two our family could have used it for a research paper. I am replacing most of my VHS tapes with DVD's; they take up less room, but I do not have the heart to throw away my VHS tapes; especially my musicals and old B/W films.

Now my dining room is so full only one person can eat at the table; this is a problem especially since my kitchen is so small there isn't a table; most of the dining room table is cluttered with my unfinished projects and those of my family. Usually as the weather gets colder I find the time to stay inside and sort through all of this. By Thanksgiving I will have found my table but most likely lose it again over the spring and summer when I prefer being outdoors by the ocean than inside. My love for the beach I think I inherited from my Dad. It pulls me away from the things I am supposed to do.

My husband's family live differently. They have a beautiful home with everything being white: white sofa, white carpets, large dining room table, antiques on display; some are worth hundreds of dollars and some even more; needless to say we are not allowed to touch anything. The house feels like no one lives in the rooms; it is more like a museum; people are allowed to walk through and look but not actually stay in the rooms. There are no books, cd's, dvd's. There is no clutter anywhere. I am always amazed, but one day I found they have a junk room filled to the brim of stuff; it is the forbidden room and they have a garage full of stuff; they park their expensive cars on the driveway and street as the garage is so full.
It made me feel better when I realized they are not so perfect after all. I am sure if I had a garage it would be totally full. My basement and attic are full of what I call my treasures; others would call it sentimental junk. I promise my family I will throw something away; instead I hide it in the attic. There are on to me so I have a new rule: everytime I add something to the attic I take something out which I either give away or throw away; at least this way my problem isn't getting larger, but it isn't going away.