“Hi, my name is Jeff and I’m a hoarder.”
This is what I envision my son saying at his Hoarder’s Anonymous meeting when he grows up.
Last night I opened his cabinet in his room and my jaw dropped to the floor. What was all this crap stuff overflowing in his cabinet? I knew he had trouble parting with toys, books, etc even if he hadn’t used them in ages, but this was crazy. Among the stash was two empty packs of gum, rocks, paper, scissors, paper fan, mints, nylons (really???), pens, a deflated balloon, sand in a ziplock, more paper……
Where did he get this urge to keep everything? Clearly not from his OCD mom who can’t stand clutter.
So, I made a mental note to ask him about it once he got downstairs.
And, here’s how the conversation went….
Me: “Hey bud, we need to clean out your cabinet. You’ve got a lot of stuff in there that should be tossed.”
Jeff: “nah, that’s ok.”
Me: “Jeff, we can’t keep everything we come across. I’ll help you go through it this week-end.”
Jeff: “Mom… I can’t get rid of it. It’s all about preserving memories.”
How could I argue with that?
One for Jeff. Zero for Mom Gone Mad.
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Okay Valerie, I do believe that Jeff and Lauren may somehow be related. EVERYTHING that you posted, right down to the “stuff” he has collected is exactly the same as hers. I am the least sentimental person I know and it is very hard for me to understand why she needs all of these things. She tells me the same thing Jeff told you, then she cries about how she’s so sad that she can’t access those special moments anymore because they are in the past, and onandonandon… Oh I feel for you!
OMG so what do we do??? Therapy? LOL
HA!! I love it!
Too funny! Lots of my drawers/cabinets look like that, but not necessarily because of my kids…