Monday, April 11, 2011

Holding Onto the Past

Thought for the day:  If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one, what do you call it?


It's hard to say goodbye.

 Do you have a bunch of stuff around your house that you can't let go? I'm not talking about necessities; I'm talking about those unique treasures from your past that still manage to pluck your heartstrings like a two-bit harp.

Like my cheap-o fifth grade orchestra pin. It still occupies a place of honor in my jewelry box, along with a "lucky stone" I found when I was in second grade, and a neat-o metal typeset of my name that came from a field trip to the Baltimore Sun (newspaper) building, which I, in fact, missed, because I had the measles. None of those items will mean anything to our children when I'm gone, but somehow, I can't bring myself to part with them.



                                    And records. Have I ever got records! My favorites are the 45s.


It's probably time to tell those records sayonara, but like Celine Dion sang, "It's hard to say goodbye." Not that any of these records are anywhere near as recent as Ms. Dion's birth. No, these treasures of mine are Elvis records, Little Richard, (when he was still a young rough and tumble rock 'n' roller) the Coasters, Nat King Cole, Chuck Berry, and Rosemary Clooney singing about "This Ol' House."  They're the Drifters, Dion & the Belmonts, (before he went solo) and Eddie Fisher singing "Dungaree Doll." The McGuire Sisters, Artie Shaw and his orchestra playing "Star Dust"  (one of my favorite songs of all time) and Jerry Lee Lewis on the old Memphis, TN Sun label. Treasures, I tell you, treasures!

                                         Not that I've played any of them in the past forty years.


The fact that I don't have a good-working turntable is beside the point. If I wanted one badly enough, I'd buy one. But why should I? I don't NEED one.

No, all I have to do is look at these old records, and admire their brightly colored labels and sleeves, to remember my first record player with its wobbly turntable, which could only play one record at a time. To play a 45, you had to put a plastic piece into the larger record hole to make it fit. Had to tape a penny to the arm to make it heavy enough to play the records right, too. Then, my brother got the portable RCA player. All it played was 45s, and you could put on a whole stack at one time. (Like Sarah Vaughan crooned, "The record player's automatic ... ba-by.") One look at these records, and I'm bopping in the club basement with my girl friends, or dancing cheek-to-cheek at the teen center. So I don't have to actually HEAR them ... to hear them in my heart.

What got me to thinking about those old records is the editing I had to do on my book Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade this weekend. Know what? It's every bit as hard to cut words as it is to get rid of records. What's funny is that some of the parts getting the axe are the ones that I sweat the most blood over while laboring to give them birth. Witty stuff. Clever stuff. Stuff that makes me smile.

But it's gotta go! Because it injects ME into the book and serves to draw the reader away from the story. No matter how much I love those words, it doesn't serve the book if the reader stops to admire "my writing". Damn it.

So, the words are going. I delivered 'em, and now I'm killing 'em. And the book is better for it. And some day, those records will go, too, I promise. But not yet.

So, how about you? What treasures are you holding onto from your past? No matter how illogical it is to hang onto them, they sure do bring us comfort, don't they?

Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other. I believe I'll sail off into the sunset. (I always wanted to do that!)

16 comments:

  1. No! Don't get rid of the old vinyl! They're classics!

    Um, yeah. We have hundreds of old albums. But we do have a turntable, and sometimes we even have "album nights" with the kids and their friends. We take turns picking out an album, and then we see who can guess the group/singer first. The kids think this is "quaint" but fun.

    Re cutting words: it's tough to kill your darlings, so I don't. I move them to a special "leftovers" file, where they can live on eternally without gunking up my ms. Easier than hitting delete. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. As hard as it is, you've got to kill your darlings because you're right--they draw attention to the writer. Sometimes it's so hard because they always are the passages I've spent hours and hours "perfecting." But when they're gone the story is so much better.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, Linda. I don't reeeeally want to get rid of the records, but after wading through 60+ years of my parents' treasures after my father died last year, I've been thinking about weeding some of this stuff out around here to make things easier for our kids. (We have so much "stuff" around here right now, I think our kids would rather burn the house down than deal with all of it!)Then again, our son-in-law is a musician. He might like the records.

    And you're right. I should've saved those darlings in a separate file. Doggone it.
    +++

    Hi, Connie. Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if the reason we have to work so long and hard at some passages is because we're trying to force something to fit that simply doesn't belong. Live and learn, eh?

    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Both, editing and getting rid of our treasures are painful decisions. But often we need to do it, should we want to look into something refreshing...

    Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments. Hope you have a great week!!

    Doris

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've always been a pathological thrower-outer. I despise clutter and throw stuff out as soon as I realize it's no longer useful. When my daughter was born, I realized how far I had taken it because I had so few keepsakes from my own childhood. So I decided to relax a little bit come closet-cleaning time.

    The same is true of my writing; most of the time, it's too sparse. Instead of cutting pieces out, I have to sew new ones in. I guess we all have our crosses to bear ;)

    And as for your keepsakes, the records are so cool, even if you don't have a player for them. Instead of getting rid of them completely, maybe you could pass them on to someone in your life who would get a kick out of them. Then you'd know that someone you love is enjoying them.

    Becca @ The Bookshelf Muse

    ReplyDelete
  6. I didn't have any 45's of my own, but inherited some from my mother. I still remember them ... can hear them plainly in my mind...

    "Got along without you before I met you, gonna get along without you now ... Gonna find someone who's twice as cute, 'cause I didn't like you anyhow ..."

    It's amazing how your post brings those memories vividly to life -- AND THAT SONG WAS WRITTEN BEFORE I WAS BORN. Musical memory may be the very strongest memory we have!

    It hurts to cut words I love from a manuscript, but if they didn't really fit in the story, I doubt they'll last as long in my memory as lyrics from the songs on my mother's 45's!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm finding it impossible to get rid of my children's old baby clothes. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Don't get rid of the records. Not only are they full of memories (and you'll regret it if you do nix them) they're probably worth a lot of money. Jukebox restorers are always looking for 45's.

    As for the cutting -- again, never throw anything away. You never know when you'll need it again. Always save it in a 'scrap' file.

    And I know just how you feel right now. Cutting does make the story stronger, but you may be able to use those fab lines somewhere else.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi, Doris. You're right; editing and treasure-dumping both involve tough decisions, but having to dump treasured words in the process of editing is the toughest. Thanks for stopping by.

    +++

    Hey, Becca. Thank you so much for visiting! Hmmm, I'm thinking your way of keeping the clutter down tops the way my husband and I have always operated. Neither of us is a hoarder, but we certainly do qualify as pack rats. The room in our house that was specifically built to accomodate a pool table got so overrun with amateur radio equipment and other electronic gadgets and projects, we haven't been able to shoot pool in there for years. Happily, my husband made a new years' resolution to reclaim the room, and victory is in sight!
    +++

    Hi, Dianne. I got a chuckle out of your post. When you said the records belonged to your mother, it reminded me of a funny story. It isn't because of anything I've done, I don't think, but I've always looked younger than I am. (Which I hated when I was younger ... like, on our honeymoon, people kept thinking I was my husband's daughter!) Anyway, when I went to the doctor's office one day, there was a temp receptionist there. In the course of chatting, we discovered that we were both originally from Maryland. She asked what town, and I told her, "Dundalk." "Me, too!" she squealed. Then she wanted to know what high school I attended. "Dundalk High," I replied. "Oh, WOW!" she enthused. "What year did you graduate?" Then, I told her the year, and her face fell. I mean, it was night and day. One second, she was all lit up, and then she was crestfallen. "Oh," she finally said. "Maybe you knew my mother..."

    Take care.
    ++++

    Hi, Sam. We held onto our baby stuff for a long time, too, mostly because my hubby had a theory that getting rid of them would lead to another pregnancy! And here's a thought: maybe you could hang onto some things for your grandkids. It's kinda neat to see your grandchildren using and wearing things that once belonged to your children.
    +++

    Hi, Anne. You're right on both counts. At least, saving writing scraps won't take up any floor or closet space. Unlike the old books and boxes of pictures and picture albums around here, some from as far back as the nineteenth century ...

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's hard to cut words, but I agree you should keep them all! (In a different document...not in the wip.) But I'm a pack rat who collects tiny mementos from every chapter of my life. They may be meaningless and worthless to everyone else, but to me they conjure memories that are priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi, Nicole. I've actually read in many writing books that other writers religiously save the parts of their books that don't make final cut, but did I apply that wisdom? Noooooo. Will try to do better with the rest of the book, though.

    And very good on saving mementos. (Pack rats of the world, unite!) The thing is, after sorting through an unbelievable amount of stuff after my parents died ... I'm talking stuff dating back to before their births, even ... I'm beginning to see the wisdom of getting rid of some of those things that hold meaning only to me. It's just stuff. The memories will remain.

    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Got a pile of those records myself..hubby won't part with them.
    Thanks for dropping in on thefeatherednest.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I still have baby and toddler clothes I'm holding onto, even though our youngest is five years old.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Susan
    Good to have found you via the A-Z (Challenge, obviously, not the street map). Very much enjoyed this post - good fun and so true (love the not needing to play the records to hear them) ... And as for the bits you end up cutting being the most troublesome in the first place - I can identify with that, too :-)
    All the best - and don't throw anything away too hastily (from home or novel!)
    Karla

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi, I also found you through the A-Z Challenge. Don't throw the vinyl records out yet - they'll be worth a fortune in a couple of years. People are already looking for them. I have a thing about buying new clothes. So my closet doesn't get too clogged, I buy something and then throw one thing out (something I haven't worn for a year). How many times,though, do I go back and think 'I wonder where...is?' LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Mybabyjohn, (or can I just call you "my baby" for short?!)Thanks for stopping by. Good to hear I'm not the only one hanging on to those old records!

    +++

    Hi, Jeffrey. Oh, you better hold onto those baby clothes! At LEAST until your wife is five years past menopause. One of our daughters-in-law keeps getting rid of the baby clothes, and darned if she doesn't keep getting pregnant. She has eight now ... so BEWARE! Thanks for coming aboard.

    +++

    Hi, Karla. Welcome aboard. Oh, and no worries about me throwing stuff ... or words ... away in haste. I hang onto both for dear life!

    +++

    Hi, Lauracea. (what a beautiful name!) OK, everyone's convinced me to hang onto the records a little longer. (didn't have to twist my arm too hard, though!) As for clothes and shoes, I'm just the opposite from you. I HATE to buy new ones, so I wear the old comfy friends until they're beyond repair. (and if I keep them long enough, they come back into fashion again!) Take care, and thanks so much for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete