Organizing My Life

(Quick funny story before I get to my point. To keep Owen entertained while I write this post, I put some of the letters that I'm throwing away out in the hall, at first he was just crinkling them up and spreading them around, but now he is grabbing a few and taking them over to the stairs and throwing them down, then he runs back, grabs a few more and throws them down the stairs. I'm going to have a big mess to clean up in a little bit.) :-)
Now, back to the title of this post. I have been hauling around about 8 boxes of letters, pictures, memorabilia, etc... for about 10 years. I keep meaning to scrapbook the photos or organize the letters in a folder or do anything with them besides having them sit in a box taking up space in my basement, so I decided this week, to go through the boxes and get rid of the stuff. If I like the letter, I scan it into my computer, if I like the picture I put it in a pile to scan (there are a lot of them) and if I like a piece of the memorabilia I take a picture of it, so I can look at it and remember it later and then I throw everything away. It has been a great process and so far I've gone through about 4 boxes. It has also been fun to remember all the "memories" associated with each person, object or picture.
I never really realized when I went to school and on my mission how many people wrote to me. I have loved reading letters from both my grandma's, they sent me birthday cards and were so supportive while I was on my mission. In one letter I received from my Grandma Hacking in January 1998, while I was attending school at Dixie, she said she wanted to move to St. George where it was warm, but when she asked my Grandpa if they could go, he said he would go only if he could bring the cows, so she said, "I guess we aren't coming." Ha. I love my Grandma Hacking so much and this just made me remember all the wonderful memories I have of her and my grandpa and spending time with them and my cousins on their farm.
I also found a check from when I worked as a janitor at BYU-Hawaii that I never cashed. Too bad too, because I could have been $93.23 richer.
Anyway, it has been a great process and I'm not only enjoying getting rid of some of this stuff, I'm also enjoying a cleaner, more organized basement.