Letting Go

Why is it so hard to let go of things?

I'm back in the office after being out for most of the last two days, and I was just rummaging through one of my drawers looking for a return address label so I could order some plants (because God forbid I actually be doing real work here in the office). In the drawer is a small blue Tiffany's box that I can't seem to throw away.

A few years ago I organized several sessions at a conference, and as a thank you I was given a Tiffany's pen - complete with the blue box, tied with ribbon. I never undid the ribbon. Instead, I carefully slid the ribbon off the box and replaced it after I had extracted the pen from the soft bag nestled atop the cotton inside the box. And for at least two years, the box has been in my drawer because I can't seem to throw away that little blue box.

What is it? Is it the status symbol of the box that I don't want to lose? That immediately identifiable color that says "Oohhh ... Tiffany's!" It was at least a year before I even took the pen out. It was so nice I didn't want to use it, or lose it. Why do we do that? Why do we save things? Erma Bombeck wrote a column once after she learned she had cancer and talked about all the things she would have done differently, and one of the things she said was "I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage." What good do things do you wrapped up in a closet somewhere? Use your china and crystal and celebrate today.

I just threw the box in the garbage.