I am addicted to the new A&E show, Hoarders. Every week they document the lives of two people who are diagnosed with a Hoarding disorder. It is fascinating, educational and, at times, heartbreaking. In one recent episode there was even a case of a seven-year old boy who is afflicted with this condition. I was discussing this show with my father and we realized that we all have a little bit of a hoarder in us. Certainly not to the extent of the lady who had over thirty six live cats in her home, but we do all hang on to things that others would consider rubbish. So I took stock in my life and came up with a list of my treasures that other would consider trash.

1. My book collection. Not only do I have certain authors that I cannot part with, I have an extensive collection of signed books that I could never give away. As a result I have stacks of books all over the house. Some are in entertainment center, while others have taken over my dresser.
2. Programs from my daughter’s dance recitals and competitions. You may not think this would be so bad, but when you add up four competitions and three recitals a year, you get a whole lot of mess. It is a good memory though and I’m loath to get rid of them.
3. All those sweatshirts and t-shirts with my son’s old hockey photos on them. The boy doesn’t even play hockey anymore, having moved on to skiing. Yet, I can’t bring myself to get rid of those shirts that have his mini-mite pictures on them. He is so damn cute and now that he’s a teenager, I know how precious those moments were.
4. My Halloween decorations. Why I find it necessary to hold on to these when I got to my mom’s every year to celebrate, I’ll never know. But the thought of getting rid of my hanging skeleton in a cage just terrifies me.
5. My daughter’s baby bonnets. Now in my defense I was going to give these to my sister when her baby was born. Is it my fault that she had a boy?
6. My bibles. Even though I’m no longer a member of my Baptist church and I don’t go every Sunday and sit in a pew, I can’t pass along my extensive collection of bibles. Since I went to Baptist high school, it’s pretty big too. (Why is everyone looking so shocked that I went to a church school?)
7. My skinny clothes. Enough said.
8. Those high heels that I bought because they were so cute, but I could never wear because they hurt my feet.
9. My old Richard Simmons workout tapes. With all the writing I’m doing I just don’t have time to Sweat to the Oldies.
10. All those old copies of RWR. I guess it’s my way of justifying paying my yearly RWA dues. “At least I got some great research out of it.”

So that is my confession, my dirty ten if you would. What do you hoard?

-Stephani