Decisions, decisions

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When visiting my family in Minnesota in November, my mom presented me with a box full of my papers from grade school that she didn't want to keep at her house any longer. Vowing to go through the box soon, I brought it back with me to Atlanta and promptly hoisted it onto the highest shelf in my closet. "Soon" turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months.

Even though it wasn't a significantly large box, the contents gave me pause. How would I decide which papers are worthy of a coveted storage spot in my tiny condo?

Finally, a couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to delve into those grade school memories, and wow, what a blast from the past! Most of the papers were math, English or vocabulary word worksheets, but a few art projects were also included in the mix.

Since the box contained graded papers from first through fourth grade, I chose to separate as best I could the papers from each grade, making sure to peruse each and every page. What I discovered in that stack of paperwork were many repetitious worksheets, and I was able to quickly make decisions on what to keep and what to toss.

Ultimately, I ended up recycling most of the worksheets, but I did choose to keep a few gems such as a "Be Kind" poster I created for a poster contest and an adorable worksheet where I made my "S" backwards. Instead of an entire box devoted to grade school papers, these few items will live in my small mementos box.

Do you have items from grade school you have been meaning to sort through? Tell me more in the comments box.