My parents are sort of hoarders. Not the “walking-through-nose-high-newpaper-stack-pathways” sort of hoarders, but they just never throw anything away. For example, my mom used to work for a company that produces, among other things, pre-soaked charcoal. They probably have about 10 bags of charcoal in the garage, despite the fact that a) my mother hasn’t worked there for well over 15 years and b)they don’t own a charcoal grill, having purchased a gas grill several years ago and c) have likely not used a charcoal grill since when my sister was in high school. They may even have some kitty litter lying around, another acquisition from this company.  I don’t really need to specify that we’ve never had a cat, and they live in Northern California so even the “getting out of snow” excuse doesn’t apply.

Honestly, though, there are many times I’ve been grateful for this. On my last visit there a few months ago, I pillaged searched the house for things to bring with me.  I found a few gems:

Sorry for the blurry picture–still, does anyone else remember this album? (And these are all actually albums).  I used to play these on a little plastic record player that snapped into its own suitcase, as I’m sure did many of you growing up. Here’s a few more:

I posted the last one on Facebook and I was surprised how many of you had had this album! The boy and girl LOVE this one in particular and we listen to “I Left Me Cookie At the Disco” over and over again. Here it is for you all to enjoy once more, or you’re welcome to come over for one of our spontaneous dance parties:

Me Lost Me Cookie At the Disco (click link to play song)

I also found a few old games: Battleship, Connect 4, Mastermind, and Sorry!

As a side note, Sorry is considerably easier to win if you don’t really pay attention to the actual numbers drawn and just move the pieces randomly around the board, which is how the girl (blue) beat me handily in the game above.

Other things found at my parents’ house: Some of my old favorite shirts that now fit the boy, my 80s-tastic prom dress (purple Jessica McClintock, naturally), my sister’s much more tasteful prom dress, matched Singapore Airlines hostess uniforms that last fit me when I was 12 and my sister 6, a perfectly good unused salad spinner, and a pet that we’d forgotten we’d owned.  (Okay, that last one might be an exaggeration.)

It makes me rethink how quick we are to sell or give away some of the kids’ things, especially when so many of the versions of these same toys are now “upgraded” and not for the better. It’ll be hard to even keep some of these things that are mostly virtual, like music already is and books are rapidly becoming. It feels weird to think that someday I might hand my grandchildren some version of a USB drive as old memories instead of something physical. I think I’ll definitely keep some of the sturdier classics, such as the wooden dollhouse, all the Legos, some of the favorite clothes, and books to name a few, as long as I don’t become one of those people who’s navigating through stacks.  What do you think you’ll want to keep for your kids?

try{ clicky.init(66522064); }catch(e){}