I walked in the kitchen and opened the narrow drawer at the far left end of the island. My mission was probably a sharpie, tape, maybe a pair of readers or a lighter. I can’t remember now but what I do remember is the biggest smile spreading across my face and grabbing my phone to snap a photo of the contents of the drawer.

The junk drawer. 

As soon as I opened it, I remembered the conversation I had a few nights before. 

During a fun exchange about a little bit of everything – a chat so good and spontaneous that time passes without realizing the extent – we discussed the junk drawer. 

“You know the drawer everyone has that has tape, pens,” he said.  “Yes, of course” I say. “The JUNK drawer. Super glue, sharpies, batteries.”  We laughed.  

“Well,” he says. “after my divorce I spilled out the ‘junk drawer’ and examined all of the things in it to see what was there. What needed fixing or throwing away.”

“Ahhhh.” I immediately track with him.

After several back to back life events in a few short years including lots of death, a bout of deep depression, and a going off the rails of sorts, that unearthed more than I knew what to do with, I wrote a blog.  In it, I used a trash can being tossed over and all the garbage spilling out, uncovering the old junk at the bottom. That stuff that had been deeply buried, looking at what was there that had been hidden so many years.  I let down my guard and told him part of that story. 

One man’s junk drawer is another woman’s trash can. 

When I opened the drawer that day I realized, I’ll never look at another junk drawer the same again or without thinking about him and that conversation. I sent the pic of my open drawer to him. To be honest, I was somewhat envious that he had thought of a better image to represent his situation than I had to represent mine. 

Trash is just, well, trash. It’s all in the same category. It’s all getting tossed, taken away, never to be seen again. 

A junk drawer, however, with all of its arbitrary contents, is another thing all together. Some of these items are, well, trash. They’re no longer usable and will get tossed. Their purpose has been fulfilled.

Some of the things may be a little broken, not quite perfect, but still able to be used for the purpose they serve in your life.  These items have to be examined and carefully considered before choosing to keep them or chunk them because maybe they were hard to use, difficult at the time, frustrating or painful even. Many of those things, after sitting in the drawer for a time, reveal themselves to be purposeful after being hidden for a while.

Other things may be new but had been forgotten. They were at the bottom, buried by the trash and the not perfect. You’ll excitedly pull them out, exclaim how you forgot you ever had them, so thankful that you found them again, and work really hard to keep them at the top, remembering to use them on a regular basis. 

Here’s a thought based on some hard earned experience. Be careful of what you put in your junk drawer, particularly while cleaning it out. An empty junk drawer is vulnerable, longing to be filled and sometimes will accept items that were meant to be trash all along.

I’ll leave that there for what it is. 

I’m going to go clean out my junk drawer . . . while I finish cleaning out my junk drawer.