There MAY Be Signs...

How do I know that I am way overdue to clean out my hall closet? Well, the duck boots from college were the first clue. My husband's college letter jacket is the second (no, I'm not going to get rid of it, even though he did recently celebrate his 15th reunion). Today's sign could not be mistaken. On the top shelf of my closet was a stack of notebooks and folders that I didn't even know where there.

The notebooks themselves weren't that upsetting. I mean, I DID already find a roller derby program from a few years ago (FYI - if you like to "people watch", go to a roller derby match). But the age of the notebooks...well, that may be the biggest sign I have a clutter problem. In the first notebook were notes from a class I took when I made the switch from teaching middle school to elementary school. In 2001. The second and third notebooks weren't as bad...mostly handwritten assignments that I needed to type for my students. Math quizzes, instructions for a research paper on insects, questions about a novel I was teaching, and the steps to making a database. Of course, there was the folder explaining the dental benefits I was eligible in 2002. But the worst was the notebook from the year I was the reading teacher at my middle school. In it are the names and notes on all of the high-risk kids in the sixth grade. From 1999. These kids are now seniors in college. I can't believe this is still in my closet. Or, more accurately, WAS. It's now in the box of papers to take to the community shred event next month. (because, even though these kids are no longer my students, I don't need any sort of law suit about letting their sixth grade test scores be out in the trash for anyone to see.)