Why did I keep that?

[Carolia]

As I've mentioned before, I'm currently in TN cleaning out my mom's house since Dad died and she's in an independent living apartment. In going through all of my parents' worldly belonging, save a few things already at the apartment, I have found all sorts of stuff. Most things were familiar to me, or if not, then I could understand why my parents saved them.

Until today.

My best friend came over to help me today, and we tackled my parents' bathroom. I pulled stuff from the shelves, and she either trashed it or put it aside. I reached into the back corner of the top shelf, grabbed something, pulled it out, and yelped. Finally, I showed my best friend what it was--my father's old false teeth. Yes, my dad saved the old pair that no longer fit him. He didn't even bother to put them in a container; he just left them ON THE SHELF. I have now added to the list of things I would ask my dad were he still alive the question, "Why on earth would you keep that?"

So, what have you found while cleaning or sorting, either in your belongings or someone else's, that made you think, "Why did I (or they) keep this?" I'm sure there's weirder stuff than old dentures. I just hope I'm not the one to find it.

[Marlitharn]

My mom found an unopened package of Hong Kong Phooey napkins in a drawer in her china hutch. This would have been about 2 summers ago.

When we were clearing out my grandfather's spare room in 1998 we kept finding random maxipads. Tucked into drawers, lying in otherwise empty suitcases, wrapped in handkerchiefs and lying on shelves. There was also a box of tampons from 1968 (according to the copyright on the instructions) in a bureau drawer. This had been my mother's room when she was young, so presumably this was just all stuff leftover from her youth, and we all knew Grandma had been a packrat, but I don't think we realized how dedicated she was.

[tunaman]

When my folks sold their house in 2002, I helped them clean it out.

My mom used to have a spare "medicine cabinet" in the kitchen. She had plenty of "in-date" OTC medicines, like Advil and Sudafed... but at the back of the cabinet I found...

1) A bottle of Kaopectate that expired May 1st, 1981.
2) Another bottle of Kaopectate that expired December 31st, 1983.
3) One of those "brown bottles" of Mercurochrome (no expiration date, but the price tag said 29¢)
4) A similar bottle of "medicinal" olive oil, expired May 1982.
5) A bottle of Wondra lotion (discontinued in 1988, I think).
6) A bottle of salicylic acid given to me by my dermatologist in 1983.

Why the hell did she keep that stuff?

(I should note that mom was only 54 when this happened; it's not like she was 92 and suffering from Alzheimer's or anything.)

[Khampelf]

I think an old pair of dentures would be better than none at all. So like if an ostrich or something ran away with your current set, wouldn't you like to have the old pair as a backup until new ones could be made? To not keep an old set could leave you dentally retarded.

[BarbarianAtTheGate]

Cottage Cheese containers. Hundreds of them in the basement, all empty. On shelves, in bags, scattered here and there. As we hauled a couple more garbage bags full up the stairs and into the dumpster, I remember my brother remarking that he never saw my Dad eat cottage cheese. Neither did I. To this day, I don't know what that was all about, and I never will. One of the great unsolved mysteries of my life.

[Khampelf]

Originally Posted by BarbarianAtTheGate

Cottage Cheese containers. Hundreds of them in the basement, all empty. On shelves, in bags, scattered here and there. As we hauled a couple more garbage bags full up the stairs and into the dumpster, I remember my brother remarking that he never saw my Dad eat cottage cheese. Neither did I. To this day, I don't know what that was all about, and I never will. One of the great unsolved mysteries of my life.

Maybe he was a Kurdish separatist.

[Solfy]

I was unaware that dentures were the sort of thing that needed to be replaced/upgraded periodically. I know eyeglasses prescriptions can lose effectiveness with time, but I never thought about having worn out fake chompers. You learn something new every day.

[Rebo]

It's not the teeth that get worn out, it's the shape of the mouth (upper palate and gums themselves) that changes over time.

[Zombies!]

Originally Posted by Khampelf

Maybe he was a Kurdish separatist.

http://lolthulhu.com/wp-content/uplo...seewhatyou.jpg

[Carolia]

Khampelf, you made me laugh today, and for that I thank you. I needed to laugh.

Today we found the lid to a straw cup I had as a child (the cup was long gone), approximately fifty used twist ties that my mom saved in case we needed them, a stopper for old glass Coke bottles, and seven or eight lovely glass containers from my grandmother that were all used for relish, which led me to ask my mother, "How much relish did Grandmother use, anyway?"

[Anacanapuna]

OK, here's the anti-post to the OP:

About five years ago my three brothers and I were helping Pop with what should have been a minor plumbing project. It turned into an all-day, frustration-drenched ordeal for the simple reason that my father never tossed anything from his beloved shop. The two-story, 24-by-30 former carriage house was packed to the rafters with crap he hadn't seen in years, but every time Mom asked him to shovel the shit out, he'd reply, "I don't know when I'll ever need a slightly used WWII surplus aluminum canteen, but if I ever do, well, I'll have one." His shop had become legendary for its ability to hide tools from even the most persistent search, under layers of military surplus, yard sale and bartered junk. What was maddening was that when any of us boys was sent to find the 9/16 hex wrench "out in the shop," the one thing we could never find was the 9/16 hex wrench. Finally, Pop would go out to the shop and find the wrench -- under the burned-out washing machine motor, next to the busted canvas-stretching frame, by the Dremel tool with the cracked chuck.

Well, when we tried to move the hot water line two feet to accommodate Mom's new washing machine, the copper pipe cutter that we'd all used and seen in the shop all our lives was nowhere to be found. Even our pater could not find it. That was the last straw. The following weekend, we all gathered yet again, piled everything in the shop on the lawn outside (that took nearly two hours!) then swept out the shop and put back only those things a reasonable person might think belonged in a well-equipped shop. And it was plenty. Everything else went into the dumpster in the alley, and we nearly filled the dumpster. Among the items tossed: aforementioned washing machine motor, canvas-stretcher and Dremel tool, along with a hammered-wire shotgun barrel blown out near the breach.

Not two days later, I was sitting with my father on his front porch when a friend of his drove up, walked up to the porch and asked Pop, "Say, do you still have that old blown-out shotgun barrel?" Pop just shook his head. The friend said, "That's a pity. My son't teaching a gun safety class and he wanted to use it for one of his demonstrations. He's willing to pay twenty bucks for it, if you still have it."

There was a long silence as we all came to terms with the absence of the blown-out shotgun barrel. I couldn't help myself; I had to ask, "You, uh, you wouldn't know anybody needs a Dremel tool with a busted chuck, would you?"

The friend looked at me as if to say "What the hell would anybody want that for?" but his voice only said, "Nope."

"That's good," my father replied. "Cuz I don't have one of them, either. Used to, but I don't anymore."

I went in the house to pour iced tea.