For many years, J. and I shared custody of two dogs, Sasha from late 2007 and Leo in mid 2015, and two cats, from late 2011. Thus a seasonal rite of passage was the great shedding as all of them lost their heavy winter coats.

This post is not about that kind of shedding.

(See, I do have a sense of humor.)

Y’all know I spent months in the last year getting rid of almost everything in our lives. Every single item was judged worthy — or not. It had to have virtue. We asked whether it was inherently useful, and couldn’t be easily replaced? These things were probably brought to our new home — a particular kind of veg peeler (yes, I know) made this cut. A very few were put into storage, such as the lined curtains I’d made out of rare fabric, to eventually go to the “forever home.” If easily replaced, we gave them away. If they gave us pleasure, or had sentimental value, they were carefully stored away for bringing to the forever home.

This post is also not about that kind of shedding.

Its about the tiny “land mines*” I encounter randomly when going through my files. Like the folder of work-related reading, tracking, “just in case,” and backups I just came across. It’s a sub-folder in a little-used email account that is the one I gave the office as my contact when I left. I’m not quite far enough past that time to be able to delete it (and I don’t need the space) . . . but in all likelihood I won’t look at anything in it ever again.

Much of my life was in the role of organizer, with sub-roles of tracker and keeper of the things. My electronic life reflects this old life in every folder and drive. Hundreds of articles about  . . . well . . . everything. Cleaning, organizing, finances, living frugally, cooking outdoors, romance, relationships, health, fitness, games, pets, humor, clothing, beauty, mythology, research . . .  I kept so much of what I came across. Oh, and my bookmarks (remembers them?) are just as varied and organized by subject.

Do I ever go and read those pages? those articles? Hardly.

But I felt good keeping track, and had a mini library to look up with the click of a search term. Yes, I was a mini *gargle* of sorts.

Nowadays, I get to archive whole folders. Archive for awhile, because I’m not quite ready to give up the knowledge. Eventually, however, I will delete.

Probably.

* Land mines is the term we use for the things that surprise us, usually in ugly or painful ways. Such as the photos on social media of Leo about a year after we had to euthanize him because he had cancer.