![\"Trash](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/r9f.352.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Trash-Bags-larger.jpg\" "\\"Trash")
<\/a><\/p>\nEvery family has a pack rat. In ours, it\u2019s Emma, my 25-year-old daughter. I\u2019ve bequeathed Winchester, the moth-bitten stuffed panda from my childhood, to her. She\u2019s the only one in the family I trust not to mistake him for trash. An artist, Emma sees the potential in everything. You\u2019d be surprised what you can do with scraps of paper and odd socks.<\/p>\n
Emma\u2019s room is like an archaeological dig\u2014prehistoric Legos followed by the era of My Little Ponies, which in turn are overlaid with the Beanie Baby then the Barbie strata. Pat the Bunny<\/em> coexists peacefully with Harry Potter<\/em>, and a history of girls\u2019 fashion resides in Emma’s dresser drawers. The artwork papering her walls ranges from pre-K scribbles to sophisticated masterpieces on canvases she stretched and framed herself.<\/p>\n Ever since Emma left for college, I\u2019ve been nagging her to go through her stuff. Sometimes I threaten to toss it all myself if she won\u2019t. But Emma recognizes a hoarder by proxy when she sees one. She knows I\u2019ve kept vigil over her room like a shrine since she\u2019s been gone. I’m not ready to throw away Emma\u2019s Girl Scout swaps\u2014little bits of felt tokens exchanged around years of campfires\u2014anymore than she’s been.<\/p>\n But Emma\u2019s ready now. After a lengthy and sometimes tortured path through college, she\u2019s stopped fighting the inexorable slide into adulthood. At last she\u2019s cleaning out her room with a vengeance in preparation for moving to the opposite coast. Bag after bag of old papers, clothes, the detritus of long-gone years are finding their way into areas designated for Goodwill, recycling, or trash.<\/p>\n I pull things out of the discard pile, nagging replaced by laments.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you sure you want to get rid of this?\u201d I ask, fingering an old sketchbook. What if Emma is the next Picasso?<\/p>\n She\u2019s sure.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not going to get rid of Winchester, are you?\u201d I say.<\/p>\n Emma smiles. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n But of course I will. Now I\u2019ll have to sort out \u00a0my own\u00a0transition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every family has a pack rat. In ours, it\u2019s Emma, my 25-year-old daughter. I\u2019ve bequeathed Winchester, the moth-bitten stuffed panda from my childhood, to her. She\u2019s the only one in the family I trust not to mistake him for trash. … Continue reading