Debatable Storage Syndrome

I’ve come to notice my mother’s collection of keep-tabs (also known as the housewife’s treasured Tupperware collection), half of which remains untouched. Knowing that there were always too many to use, I searched the house for more stacks and clusters. It is then that I came to realize that “we” accumulated unnecessary items and kept them around over time. We got used to seeing them in their designated places until we no longer labeled them as excess, sometimes forgetting they even existed, and sometimes decorating on top of them to mark their permanence. While some represent intimate memories, others weren’t more than un-discarded trash, but they all had a potential futuristic purpose or “raison d’être” assigned to them, a “we might need that” that helped them survive getting thrown away. Are we afraid of losing track of time or memories? How much value can one give to things? everyday things…