A Little Distraught

I was lucky to be working for a company that received (nearly) daily shipments of computer-related peripherals at the time I was boxing my stuff up to move back to MD from DE. I had access to boxes of all shapes and sizes. I generally tried to choose ones that weren't too big. I knew if I got really big boxes, they'd be filled to the max and no one would be able to lift them. This meant I had a lot of boxes to move, but they weren't too unmanagable in terms of weight.

I spent weeks carefully packing 10 years of "stuff" I accumulated living in DE. Organized by room or function. Labeled every box with the contents. Even though I had packed everything so carefully, I failed to protect the contents further than the corrogated cardboard housing.

Over the weekend, about a dozen boxes were brought home from where they were generously being stored for the past two and a half years. This morning, I grabbed an address book out of one of the boxes. I happened to look a little further into the box (like I had time... I was heading out for work!). I found my most favorite little red leather wallet. I retired it a few years ago from everyday use because it was getting a little beat up. I have a weird love of red leather accessories. Purses, checkbook covers, wallets. I don't have an extensive collection. I just covet cute little red leather things (from afar).

So my soft, cute little red leather wallet... was stuck to the cardboard Fossil box that held a look-alike black wallet I use today. It was moldy. And crunched when I opened it. Little black mold spores fell out. Merrrrrrrrrr.

I know it's just a piece of leather. It got me thinking about what other little favorite things are moldy and crunchy though. I should have protected it better. I'm sorry, Little Red.

I'm afraid to open up the box that holds about 95% of my CD collection, which was on the bottom tier and sustained water damage. Luckily, the photo boxes weren't on that tier. In the big picture, this turn of events will force me to toss out stuff I really don't need. And it really is just "stuff".