Woman NewsBanishing Bedbugs Means Scouring Memory Lane
A reporter"s run-in with bedbugs forces her to inspect or clean every single one of her possessions. A box of childhood keepsakes--from Gloria Steinem"s autograph to Suzy Homemaker toys--reflects on the contradictions of a U.S. girlhood spanning the "60 and "70s.
Page 3 of 3Oh yes, and the bedbugs. The scourge that had served as my welcome home. We cannot forget about them.
The Life-Examination Route
A bedbug infestation puts you through a mandatory encounter with every single one of your possessions--ready or not, here they come.
Many people go through them quickly or simply chuck it all. Others find ways to disinfect their things.
I chose the life-examination route.
The next day I woke up ready to divest myself of my past.
I checked eBay to make sure the Suzy Homemaker clothes washer wasn"t a collector"s item. It wasn"t. Into the trash it went.
Doll clothes, laundered (and dried a long time on "high," as bedbug protocol calls for) and sent to a thrift shop; programs for "Godspell," "Chorus Line," "Pippin" and other Broadway shows photographed and discarded; McGovern buttons likewise, along with some dolls.
Some things I couldn"t get rid of: The Steinem autograph, absolutely a must-keep, along with the communion veil and Camp Fire Girls souvenirs. I also hung on to the luminescent locks of golden-red hair that I"d saved and dated 1973, 1974 and 1976. They were part cute, part creepy, as if I had been my own stalker. (Though at least now it gives me something to show my colorist.)
A hair"s breadth from 50, I was ready to face my second half-century with the first half absorbed into my psyche, the physical traces no longer necessary.
I put what remained into a lidded plastic container and sealed it tightly. I tore up the cardboard box and put it into the recycling bin.
I could not, however, bring myself to throw out the piece of box top marked "Memiors." That is now taped onto the inside of the plastic box. One look and it takes me back.
Brooklyn-based freelancer Theresa Braine successfully banished the bedbugs and is now working on a book while she extracts her life from the plastic bags.
Women"s eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.
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