History or Misery loves company?

What is it about giving things away or just plain giving them up? You don't need it, you don't use it, and/or you don't like it. But it's yours, and there's something in that ownership that's oh so addictive. There's even something comforting in knowing that though my thighs are the size of the weiner mobile (on a good day), that this is MY cellulite, and well earned at that.

Possessiveness is 9/10ths of insanity. Why else would I still own a pair of overall shorts?

I once cried b/c I was donating to Goodwill a skirt that I'd worn on the first date with my husband. Did it fit? No. How long had it not fit? A good 2 years. Was it in style? Sadly it probably wasn't in style when I bought it. But the act of giving it up called to mind all the "moments" it represented.

Only the good ones of course. Because as soon as you go to give something up, a disturbingly female entrenched denial begins to seep in....a "I-can-fit-into-this-again-if-I-exercise-every-morning-before-work/the-reason-he-hasn't-mentioned-valentines-is-because-he's-planning-a-big-surprise/Oh-leave-the-dishes-I'll-do-them-before-I-go-to-bed" amnesia occurs. The best symbol I can think to represent this utter denial complex...a mascot if you will...is that after all this time us women still have an unseated faith in two words:

"Control Top."

See this is the same reason you can date an ass, but as soon as he dumps you (aside from the indignation of being dumped first by someone you thought you were better than), all you can remember is the one time he caringly made sure your car was full of gas before you left for work.

Forgetting that he emptied it to start with.

When he borrowed it to take a trip to the grocery store...

That took three days...

Because it was impounded for being illegally parked at a strip club.

Same thing with friendships. When they grow old, wither and likely run off without returning your best pair of strappy sandals, what is so hard about just ending the whole thing? Why can't we just get on with it and delete them from our emailing list, our cell phone?

What is really so bad about burning some bridges? Is it a seated suspicion that should we need a kidney someday we'll really regret not having that number? Is a person who doesn't acknowledge your birthday REALLY going to give you a vital organ?

Or maybe it's just a general lack of confidence in that if we give something up, will there ever be anything to take its place again? We think, deep down, Isn't it better to have a skirt that's too tight then no clothes at all?

The question is really: is life too short so we should cherish everything we have, or life is too short to drag around dead weight? Maybe truly it's that life is so short we should know when to cherish what we have and learn to know when it's time for somethings to become a cherished memory?