In 9th grade I received a birthday gift from my best friend's parents: a giant fish pillow. It was about five feet long and one foot wide. It was hideous. The parents said they saw it and just had to get it for me. What does that say about me?
I kept it for years. I never actually used it as a pillow. I just kept moving it from under my bed, to closets and finally to my car trunk where it was Goodwill bound. Only every time I showed up to drop a box off at Goodwill I couldn't bring myself to give it away. As hideous as it was I just couldn't give it away. So it rode around in my car trunk for a good three years (no exaggeration).
One day my dad is using my car and a tire goes flat. He has to dig the spare tire out of the bottom of my trunk. So there my dad is on the side of the road emptying out the treasure trove that is my trunk and out comes the giant fish pillow (along with a toaster oven, a few shower curtains and bags of old shoes). (I'm not sure if you know this but my dad is really amazing.) So my dad decides to do me a favor and drop off all this stuff [crap] at Goodwill.
He doesn't tell me until many days later that my giant fish pillow is gone for good. At first I was sad. I don't even know why. But then I felt free. I don't know why, but I hold on to crap for far too long. I have trinkets, notes, church bulletins, ticket stubbs from forever ago. I wish someone would come in and do what my dad did, give away (or throw out when necessary) all those things that I can't get rid of myself.
About a month ago I was shopping at my neighborhood BI-Lo and just above the fish section I see in the display my giant fish pillow. It is hanging up tacked to a net that also boasts a plastic crab and a few sea shells. I stood there amazed and amused. I'm glad he found a good home.
I kept it for years. I never actually used it as a pillow. I just kept moving it from under my bed, to closets and finally to my car trunk where it was Goodwill bound. Only every time I showed up to drop a box off at Goodwill I couldn't bring myself to give it away. As hideous as it was I just couldn't give it away. So it rode around in my car trunk for a good three years (no exaggeration).
One day my dad is using my car and a tire goes flat. He has to dig the spare tire out of the bottom of my trunk. So there my dad is on the side of the road emptying out the treasure trove that is my trunk and out comes the giant fish pillow (along with a toaster oven, a few shower curtains and bags of old shoes). (I'm not sure if you know this but my dad is really amazing.) So my dad decides to do me a favor and drop off all this stuff [crap] at Goodwill.
He doesn't tell me until many days later that my giant fish pillow is gone for good. At first I was sad. I don't even know why. But then I felt free. I don't know why, but I hold on to crap for far too long. I have trinkets, notes, church bulletins, ticket stubbs from forever ago. I wish someone would come in and do what my dad did, give away (or throw out when necessary) all those things that I can't get rid of myself.
About a month ago I was shopping at my neighborhood BI-Lo and just above the fish section I see in the display my giant fish pillow. It is hanging up tacked to a net that also boasts a plastic crab and a few sea shells. I stood there amazed and amused. I'm glad he found a good home.
