Refrigerator Decor

Day 79: Refrigerator Decor

Before

After

I've often heard my mother lament that magnets won't stick to her stainless steel refrigerator. Sticking stuff to your refrigerator is as American as -- well, you know. Kid art, photos, reminders, favorite cartoons, magnetic poetry, magnetic paperdolls, magnetic advertisements, coupons, take-out menus, shopping lists, phone numbers, notes to each other. Our refrigerators have got it all.

My refrigerator has got too much. I haven't culled in years. 

The magnetic white board idea never panned out. As soon as you used the last of something, you were meant to write it on the list. The first week, I felt awkward carrying a white board around Kroger's. After the second week, no one wrote anything on it. This was about a year ago. Then, a month ago, Emma wrote "Gone 2 gym." No one noticed.

Lucky I picked today for culling. Amid the chaos was a packet of orientation materials, including a parking permit and a health form, for our freshman orientation trip to Ball State the week after next.

We'll rank higher on the feng shui scorecard with the refrigerator in its current pared-down iteration. Someday I'll throw sentiment to the wind and clear it all away. After all, I've got a photographic record.

But not today.

Sam's cartoon exactly captures the esprit of high school.
Student (in tears): "I finished."
Captain Red Pen - Destroyer of Grades: "Not good enough. You fail. Have fun working at McDonald's."
Second student (also in tears): "I was supposed to go to Berkeley."