The stuff I won't throw away even though I should
I have a box of my ex-husband's old tax returns. Not for any sentimental reason. Just feels wrong to toss someone's financial records in the bin, even if they're from 2012. They sit in the bottom of my supply closet next to a bag of dried-out markers.
Also have a broken ceramic rabbit my mom gave me when I got divorced. She meant well. The ear fell off in 2020. I glued it back on badly and now it stares at me from the shelf like a little insult.
What's the thing in your studio that has no business being there but you can't get rid of?
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I have a jar of broken nibs. Not nice ones, not vintage, just cheap steel nibs I wore out and snapped over years. They're useless. But I cleaned them and put them in a jar and now they sit on the windowsill catching light. I think I keep them because they're evidence of work done. Same way a carpenter might keep a worn-out plane blade.
The tax returns make sense to me too. It's not about him, it's about the weird weight of someone else's paperwork. You're not meant to just bin it. Feels like littering with identity.
the jar of broken nibs is exactly the kind of thing i meant. it's evidence. a little archive of all the times you pushed too hard.
and yeah, the tax returns, it's like inheriting a stranger's mail. you can't just throw it away, but you also can't do anything with it. so it just sits there being heavy.