As seen in the Dayton Daily News on March 24, 2014.
As a child, I was crazy about horses. I had pictures of horses on my T-shirts, posters of them adorning my bedroom walls and I persistently begged my parents for a pony.
For special occasions, I asked for Breyer horse models to add to my collection.
With these horses, I would enter my pretend world and spend hours playing with them. I named them and created a personality for each.
I treasured them. After playing, I would carefully place them on my windowsill so nothing bad would happen to them.
Imagine my heartbreak, when I accidently stepped on one and broke the entire leg off.
I hysterically ran to my mother clutching my three-legged horse with the amputated leg in my hand.
Between my sobs, my mother kept saying, “I can fix this.” She reached for the glue and set about repairing the leg. I remember her holding the horse in one hand and the leg in the other while pressing the two together and patiently waiting for the glue to dry.
When she removed her hand, the leg fell to the floor. Before my tears could start again, she calmly told me she would try different glue. Each time the result was the same. No glue would hold the leg in place.
My mother was very resourceful and determined to fix my horse. She left the room and returned with toothpicks and medical tape. She created a splint with the toothpicks then carefully wrapped the bundle with tape.
It worked beautifully. My horse was standing again, and my pretend world continued. I wove a new story into my play as to how this injured horse went on to do amazing things.
As the years passed, I outgrew my plastic horses, and one day I carried them out to the family garage sale.
My mother asked, “Are you sure you want to part with your horses?” Without giving it a second thought, I placed the collection on the table and eagerly awaited a buyer, so I could have spending money for items I now desired.
I share this story with you in great detail to prove a point. I have not seen my horse collection for over 35 years, yet I can still recall the joy I got from those horses.
Many of you have storage areas overflowing with items from your past. You are afraid to let them go because you see them as a memory, but in reality they are mementos. The memory is with you.
Your memorabilia is thrown in boxes in storage areas and no is longer being treasured. They take up space, cost you time and money when you move, and sometimes they create conflict with your family.
To this day, I have no regrets in letting go of those horses. In fact, I’m glad I made them available to another young person instead of storing them out of sight all this time.
Louise Smith sums up my thoughts beautifully with this quote, “You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.”
No one has ever shared with me that their goal is to sort, box up things and move them around, yet that is exactly what many of you are doing.
Make room for those things that are helping you reach today’s goals, while carrying your memories wherever you go.