DUBAI DIARIES | Out of the Closet

Person 1: Pulled the holder out of the cupboard "Do you need this?"

Person 2: "Yes. We can use it for……."

Person 1 looked at the tattered book holder again wondering why you would keep this old thing. "Are you sure?"

(This conversation repeated about 20 times)

Recently a few of us gathered together for what seemed like an easy activity of clearing out a cupboard that our school hall renters had provided a deadline for clearance. So in typical aussie style, I insisted upon ensuring that we were all supplied with pizza. Nothing motivates a team activity like pizza….

Just to provide a brief description of the make-up of this team. There were tall, short, fat, small, children, adults, school founders and newbies of Dubai. Which I fit into I'll leave to your imagination.

Usually, a closet cleaning is looked at as an opportunity to bring out the cobwebs, do a bit of spring cleaning and to start afresh. I come from a family where my mother used to be very strict about this. If we bought something new, we better have had something to giving away. No hoarding here. So imagine my amusement on the above conversation and slowly wondering whether the person I was talking to was a hoarder (for lack of a more loving word). One thing stopped me…..a look in her eyes. A memory. A nostalgic thought.

The first few items came out of the closet. Suddenly the above conversation turned into:

Newbie: "Do you need this?"

Founder: "Yes. We can use it for….." (secretly recalling having driven around UAE looking for this when there was nothing).

Newbie looked at the tattered item. "Are you sure?"

Founder looking at the newbie, her eyes saying, just give me time to let go and keep my memory.

As you go through old things, it's amazing how your senses come alive. The questionable smells (and the associated deodorant spray that we used), the faded colour, the completely random items and then those endless supply of items like pencils (because you never find them when you need them!).

For an outsider, this should have just been a simple half hour exercise of clean up. This gangly group of personalities took 4 hours. 4 hours spent analysing each item that came out of the closet. Each item had 

1. A story of it's birth, 

2. A group consensus on whether to throw or keep (of which some magically walked into the throw pile while some weren't looking).

3. An analysis on who's car

4. And then…..who had to take the smelly stuff. Even that turned into a democratic distribution. Unfortunately there were only two deodorant bottles to go with it.

So in summary, as things came out of the closet, so did stories and it is amazing how this simple activity turns into an emotional ride for those who are founders.

So who are the hoarders? Those who don't have stories to justify keeping the items and keep things back into the closet. Seriously. You have issues. You need help. :-)

Speaking of which…..our pizza never got delivered.