Things I never thought I'd do

Hi everyone,

 

A couple of the bloggers I read, like Allie's Life and Mckenzie Allyshia, have recently been taking as their subject "Things I never thought I'd do".  I found myself drafting precisely such a blogpost inside my head earlier today as I was cleaning out my underwear drawer.

 

 

There seems to be some law of human behaviour that guarantees that a person's underwear-and-sock drawer will also become a repository for all sorts of small things which can't be thrown away, but which also can't be readily put anywhere else.  I've been slowly accreting bits of junk in this way for a couple of years.

 

 

Clearing this out has given me a few things to think of on the theme of "things I never thought I'd do".

 

 

The first thing I found were my race medals, from various marathons and half-marathons.  I never thought health and fitness would become quite so important to me.  I'm a long way from perfect, but I try to keep myself fit and make sure my body is something I'm content to see in the mirror.  It started as 'revenge fitness' (meaning I wanted my ex to see me and think "I could have gone to bed with that every night forever oh God what have I done?") but it long ago became far more about a way of life.  If I can control how my body looks through the simple medium of food intake and exercise, then I remain in control of something.

 

 

The next thing that I packed away were various bits of electronic gear.  I never thought I'd be comfortable enough with the roads up here to be comfortable navigating without a GPS, but I reached that point a long time ago.  Sure, its still useful when I'm on my way to a backroad somewhere, but if you want me to go to Cobram or Deniliquin or Echuca?  No problem.

 

 

My eleven pairs of cufflinks were also in my underwear drawer.  I never thought I'd pack them away with other things that I don't expect to use again.  I can tell you the story behind every pair.  The Indian-head penny and stars-and-stripes cufflinks were bought in the Van Heusen outlet mall store in Baton Rouge.  I think yhe ex bought me the alligator ones in New Orleans.  The red-and-blue colour-changing ones and the silvery Boston collection ones were gift from two of my assistants in years gone by, and the golden coloured ones were a gift from my former mother-in-law.  For better or worse, though, I can't imagine I'll be regularly wearing French cuffs again.  Without French cuffs, there's not much need for cufflinks.

 

 

I never thought I'd look at these packs of handkerchieves and decide that they'd be ideal for re-gifting to my hard-to-buy-for brother-in-law.  Once again, these items are something you only really need if you're regularly wearing a suit, and this isn't something that's likely to be a problem for me.  I'm pretty sure I received these as a gift countless moons ago; this Christmas, they'll be a gift again.

 

 

I never thought I'd get sentimental over a measuring spoon.  I'm sentimental about this one.  When I was still married, this was the spoon that sat in the jar of coffee from which I set the machine to brew every morning.  One of the moments in my life that brought me the most constant feeling of contentment was coming downstairs on a Saturday morning, putting the coffee on, and getting breakfast started while the ex get herself underway.  I miss that feeling still.  I probably should have known the marriage was in trouble when I still loved to have a big old-fashioned pot of Community Coffee and she started loving Nespresso (which I think is bland and overpriced rubbish).  Two people who just wanted different things I guess.

 

 

I never thought I'd have so many keys I can't identify.  Some of these are obvious - the car keys are from cars I owned in the past.  The keycard was from my last job in Melbourne, when I worked in the Rialto.  And some of the other keys were from places I used to live or work.  But the small black ones?  The roundheaded silver one?  What the Hell were they for?

 

 

I never thought I'd be unsentimental about my wedding band.  I put it away in the box of other things I don't expect to use any time soon.  On one hand, I feel like I should keep wearing it, since Catholic divorce is a contradiction in terms and for me to repartner is a mortal sin.  This, though, seems a little like playing dress-ups.  On the other hand, I could sell the wretched thing and at least have the benefit of whatever x grams of gold are worth these days.  In the end I decided to keep it in case Grace or Rachel ever want it one day.  I can't say I'm too fussed if I lose it between now and then.

 

What odds and ends do you have lurking in your clothing drawers?

What did you never think you'd do?