One Man's Trash...Is Probably Another Man's Trash, Too

Despite the 106 degree heat today, BigJoel and I finally made a consolidated effort to reclaim all my school things that have been socked away in the deepest, darkest recesses of our garage, which meant purging the place of all unnecessary items.  
Cleaning out things that are too valuable to throw away, but not valuable enough to merit a place indoors is tricky.  (I gave up a long time ago hosting any delusions of earning extra income through garage sales.  I'm waaaay to lazy and prone to procrastination to pull that off.)
So I always begin with a heart of stone and declare, "If it's out here, we don't need it.  Throw it away!"
Then I soften ever-so-slightly to, "That's too nice to throw away.  Let's donate it." (The 'Donate' boxes then ride around for weeks in the trunk of my car before I finally need the space and they find their way BACK in the garage.)
And finally, before I know it, I've pretty much gone through every box--laughed, cried, sighed and moved everything from one side of the garage to the other.  We sweep, reorganize and put it back where it was to begin with.
It's a vicious cycle...but when you have the kind of treasures we do, one can't be too careful.
Here's an example:

The May 1985 issue of Seventeen magazine...the year I graduated high school.  I thought for sure it would be worth something someday.  Now I'm just fascinated by how the "New American Style" has come, gone, and is actually coming back again.
Other things I unearthed today:

• corsages from both my senior prom and BigJoel's
• a Texas Tech yearbook from 1990 that doesn't have either of our photos in it
• salt and pepper shakers that survived my house fire when I was 15
• letters from BigJoel when I was a summer missionary on the Texas coast in 1987
• small bride & groom stuffed bunnies--the "bride" is made out of scraps from my wedding dress
• a gold record
• my college diploma
• my autographed copy of "The Last Voyage of the USS Pueblo"

...And those are just to name a few.  Now do you see why I have such a difficult time parting with things? Treasures, I tell you.  Priceless treasures.
*sigh*