thistlechaser | Spring cleaning a few months late (RL)

For my Alaska trip, I bought a jacket and a coat. I've been home long enough that most everything's unpacked and put away, except those two things. My apartment has a huge closet, but it's stuffed full of clothing, no room for either coat or jacket. About 75% of that clothing I haven't worn in 10-15 years (either because it didn't fit or was no longer a style I wore). Cleaning time!

I ended up with three big black garbage bags full of folded clothing to donate (along with a black leather "biker" coat that was too heavy for bag). The bags are so heavy they stretch when I lift them.

I discovered that the American Cancer Society has a thrift store, so I'm bringing them there tomorrow.

One of the items I'm donating was a purse I last used in New York, which dates it about 14 years old. I cleaned it out and discovered:

- An opened roll of Certs. (Do they make those anymore?) Amazingly, neither the roll nor the loose ones showed any signs of mold -- they looked as good as new. I did not try eating one.

- A blurb I wrote up for my Garou MUSH RP logs page. Talk about corny! So embarrassing to read now.

- A letter from an author! Annette Curtis Klause. A typed (typos corrected with pen!) in the "correct letter format" (her address on the upper right, date in the right spot, all that). How long has it been since people wrote letters in that way? Let alone, typed them up.

The letter was really odd and interesting to read. "I also enjoy the Internet. It's a great source of research material, and there's always something entertaining to distract me, too." It was dated May 7, 1999.

While I'm glad to have more space, all my old clothing gave me a (very false) sense of security. Business suits, "dressy clothing", actual dresses!!, all sorts of fancy stuff. One of the many things I dread about losing my job would be that I would have to go clothing shopping. Knowing I had the closet full of stuff (even though I knew/suspected it no longer fit) made me feel a little less worried. At least I know the truth now, and hopefully my donation will help out folks in need.