Last weekend I decided to tackle Thomas’ room. It was time to do a thorough dusting and vacuuming, not just a quick pass. I also wanted to go through his closet and dresser to pull out some clothes that didn’t fit any longer, and see if we could weed out a few old toys that he doesn’t play with anymore.
I knew it would be a challenge, because Thomas has what could kindly be called “archival tendencies.” Basically, if he has owned something for any length of time, he feels he must keep it forever.
I managed to move along an old plastic three-drawer system that had partially collapsed into the top drawer despite the heroic attempts of duct tape application; three small action figures from the Lightning Thief; and five t-shirts that even he admitted he couldn’t fit into.
The drawer system will be recycled, the action figures will be re-homed to a therapist at Anova who lost her sand therapy toys in the fire, and the t-shirts will go to Goodwill, if I can keep him from smuggling them back into his room.
Some things that Thomas was unwilling to part with include tracks to a race track he got when he was 6, a plastic jewel he got out of a gumball machine and a how-to guide to a Duplo set he can’t find. We also set aside the Buzz Lightyear doll and two Woody dolls, a handful of accessories for ImagiNext figurines, and 42 feet of paper chains. (No, I am not kidding, nor exaggerating.)
He has steadfastly refused to give up projects from school, Valentines and “kind words” from friends and a pack of unsharpened pencils he bought in the student store in fourth grade. He also has every (now spent) gift card he’s ever received, which he calls his credit cards, stuffed in his wallet.
His collection of 30 Happy Meal boxes – meticulously saved over a couple of years – needed dusting and re-stacking. The binder of his daily reports from his first year at Anova was moved from one of the failing drawers to a bookcase, and we found new homes for the contents of the other drawers, piece by tiny multicolored plastic piece.
A fairly beat up cat toy – a plush hummingbird that squeaks – is in a place of honor in a cat bed by Thomas’s bed, despite Posey never having shown any interest in either item.
The toy got beat up when my dad’s dog Svana fell in love with the squeak and carried it around for two days. We thought Svana could keep it, and she took it with her back up to Magalia, but it turns out we were all wrong, and the bird was mailed back to us.
Some of the more random things he has collected defy explanation. One thing is a shower hose that had sprung a leak, so we replaced it with a new system. Matt was putting the tools away and realized he couldn’t find the hose, and after a few questions Thomas retrieved the missing piece from under his bed. He insisted he needed it for his “collection,” and after a long puzzled pause we decided what the heck and let him keep it.
It is one of the 432 things he totes down each Friday night for his “sleepover” on the sofa bed, and it usually hangs out in the cat bed, next to the hummingbird. The other 429 items include eight movies, 12 books, six pillows, five blankets, every DS game chip he’s ever owned, a rainbow maker, a planetarium projector, a light-up moon and the old Disneyland hat.
Next Friday he’ll carry the majority of the contents of his room downstairs to set up his home away from home, and he’ll sleep the sleep of the contented, surrounded by beloved objects. Saturday morning he will carry them all back upstairs, and he’ll sigh contentedly, happy to have his collections back in place.
While I may not understand the attraction of a scratched-off, non-winning lottery ticket he “collected” from a relative, I can appreciate the value of his happiness, and that’s what I like to collect.
Juliana LeRoy wears many hats, including wife, mother, paraeducator and writer. She can be spotted around Windsor gathering material, or reached at [email protected].
