| During a recent move I was overwhelmed by how | | | | apart! And so I was left with objects of ours that |
| much stuff I owned. I had books all over my floor, | | | | made me think of the house, things that we might |
| shirts I thought I had gotten rid of, and other | | | | be leaving behind. |
| assorted items. In the midst of going through a box | | | | There's more to it, of course. When we were |
| of random objects, including high school papers and | | | | moving I was still young enough that bath time was |
| elementary school projects, I came across a shower | | | | a Big Deal. I was still taking baths back then, no |
| curtain ring and nearly stopped dead in my tracks. | | | | showers, and only when my parents forced them on |
| For a moment after finding that shower curtain ring I | | | | me. I was also starting to assert my independence. |
| was transported back to the house I took it from. It | | | | Part of the way I did that was to demand that the |
| was the first house I ever remember, a big white | | | | give me some privacy. As a result, the sound of the |
| one on a high next to a church and with a woods in | | | | shower curtain ring made when it moved is etched in |
| the backyard. It sounds made-up, but for the first six | | | | my mind. |
| years of my life, that's exactly where I grew up. It | | | | Plus, this wasn't just a clear shower curtain ring, like |
| was the absolutely perfect place to be a kid. | | | | all my friends seemed to have. This one was red, |
| But then my parents told me that we had to move. | | | | which was my favorite color, and opaque. It was |
| And I was distraught. I was young enough that the | | | | more interesting than any others I had seen and I |
| move wouldn't disrupt my life too much. It would | | | | took that to mean that my shower curtain ring --and |
| hurt to leave my friends and the life I was used to, | | | | my home, by extension--was a special place, like no |
| but I would recover. But I didn't know that as a kid--I | | | | one else's. |
| only know that I would miss my home terribly. And | | | | When you're moving there's a desire to toss |
| so my parents told me I could take one memento | | | | everything away. But during that most recent move |
| from the house. And that's why, years later, I found | | | | I found myself packing up that shower curtain ring |
| a shower curtain ring in a very old box. | | | | carefully and, when we got to the new place, placing |
| A shower curtain ring may seem like an odd moment. | | | | it in the new bathroom. Sure, it sticks out. But it |
| And it certainly causes me to laugh at my younger | | | | means more to me than any other bathroom supply |
| self now. But it makes sense. I couldn't physically | | | | ever has. |
| take away part of the house--it wasn't exactly falling | | | | |