It happens every year at this time. I find myself searching for extension cords so I can plug in all of my Christmas decorations. And every year I always come up short. So a few years ago, I went out and bought three or four extension cords to solve this problem. And that worked for a year or two.
However, a couple of weeks ago when I was doing my decorating, all of the extension cords had once again gone missing. That's when I found myself dumpster-diving in my junk drawer on the off-chance that there might be just one more cord hiding in there that would allow me to plug in that last string of lights. Sadly, the extension cord never materialized, but let me tell you, that junk drawer is a treasure trove of mostly useless stuff.
As I pawed through the contents, I found a hammer that my dad had given me when I first moved out on my own, along with the cutest little set of three yellow-handled screwdrivers which, along with that hammer, pretty much made up my first "tool chest."
There were also three nearly empty rolls of Scotch tape, several "Happy Birthday" streamers that I have hung up and taken down for each of our birthdays since my children were in elementary school...I think I've gotten my money's worth out of them! I found a package of shoelaces, with one lace missing, three nightlights without any bulbs, a pair of scissors, a timer from a board game, various types of picture hanging hardware, curtain hooks, color coding sticky dots and a ball of string...just to mention a few items.
After digging around in the drawer, it took a bit of rearranging to cram all of that stuff back in there. And as I shoved the drawer closed, I thought to myself that I really needed to clean that out. I believe I had that same thought back in 1997 when we moved into the house and I emptied the contents of a box marked "Junk Drawer" into that very drawer.
So my question is, does every culture have their own version of the junk drawer? Or is it just that we, Americans, have so much more useless stuff than everyone else in the world? I'm pretty sure that the junk drawer was the precursor to the now multi-million dollar industry know as rental storage units. Hey, I wonder if I could find an extension cord in the storage unit...
1 comment:
I think there is still a part in each one of us that perhaps we were instilled with resourcefulness and thinking nothing can or should be wasted. Our culture now is so much more disposable, isn't it?
And our junk drawers have gotten deeper.
:)
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