My task lately has been to find space in my inlaws' house to stash away all of our stuff that shipped from Houston. This is no easy task, trust me, since all the cupboards are so full that noone has dared to open them for fear that everything will just fall out. Some of those closets haven't been opened since the dark ages. My brother-in-law suggests all of those closets ought to be set on fire and burned down but Mom and Dad refuse to part with anything. There was a tense moment (understatement of the year) when Humair suggested throwing everything out, and for a while it seemed our stuff would be spending it's days outside around the back of the house. Then, with some tact and diplomacy I convinced them to at least empty out the closets and see what's in there and see if some rearrangement could give us some space and once the closets are more organized, maybe it'll be easier to decide what to keep and what to toss. Humair wished me good luck as he flew back to Cairo last week. But I was confident... I knew I could arrange our stuff such that we wouldn't need too much space... just a couple of closets would be fine. I was able to put away most of everything in a day and in the process Mom and Dad actually agreed to give away some items that came out.
Rummaging through eons old curtains, sheets, rags, extension cords, broken toys , useless gifts, broken door knobs, half empty bottles of expired shampoo, several eyeglass frames with no glass in them, a box of saved teeth belonging to my brother-in-law (eww...), I discovered an unusual abundance of shopper bags. I found bags in all sizes, shapes, colors, some old some new, some plastic, some paper, some folded neatly, other's crumpled up and jammed into any space available. There were 2 "Kids 'r' us" bags" which I know are at least 20 years old because these are from Kuwait and Humair's family had moved to Pakistan by '84. I'm certain there are bags here that have seen more years than I have. And it doesn't matter if some bags are just to small to be used for anything other than whatever it was that came in it... they're all here, and God forbid anyone talk of throwing them out....
It's a strange relationship between women and shopper bags. There is this unescapable urge to save them. How can you not? You can use them for so many things. You use them to line the trash can (why buy those expensive "made for trashcan" bags?). And then sometimes you need to give someone a gift and it's always great to find a nice shopping bag from a good foreign department store (who cares if it went bankrupt and disappeared 15 years ago?) to give it to them in. You can use them for storage... sure you hardly ever store your stationary or all those rags in a plastic bag but it's a great idea and we'll get around to doing it someday. I've noticed this odd compulsion to stow away bags in myself. I used to think Ammi (my mother) was strange, the way she would check to see that the cleaning lady didn't run off with too many bags, or the really nice ones at least. Mom (his mother) is no different, except she may not exactly resort to hiding the really nice ones the way Ammi did.
I may be a bit too obsessive... I even have a hierarchy for my bags... the thin one's from the grocerymart are plentyful and not really pretty so they're used to line the trashcans around the house and I don't fuss over them much. But I must deivide them by size so that the appropriate size goes on the respective bin. Then there are the smoother, stronger department store bags, that are too good to use for trash and I'm sure I'll use them for something someday... perhaps to store clothes when I have clothes to store, or maybe if I ever have to give someone a gift, although I hardly think I will ever do that... surrender the bag I mean. Those are folded neatly and put away, out of the maids' reach so she may not take off with one of them. Perhaps the most prized are the little gift bags, some plastic some paper, with their cute rope like handles and lovely patterns, some of them actually from really nice apparel or shoe stores with the brand name printed across. You obviously can't give a gift in them, nor are they good for storing ANYTHING, but gosh, I just can't bring myself to throw them. Those I hide in drawers underneath all of my winter clothes or right at the back of the closet where they are out of sight and out of reach. Even then, throughout the year, I will find them tossed in the garbage by you-know-who, and I'll take them out, dust them and put them right back. Maybe in the evening Humair will discover that I took them back and we'll have a nice amicable discussion (another understatement) about it over tea. I know I have a problem.... but it's not hurting anyone... yet. Maybe someday my daughter or daughter-in-law can make me see I need to toss them. I think I'll be ready to part with them by then.... maybe.
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