Growing up my mother brought home stacks of stationary that had typing on one side so we could use the paper as scrap paper. I’m not sure, nor would I even deign to remember what was written on the reverse side of those sheets, but considering my mother was a biochemist, it wouldn’t have made sense to me then anyway. But that part didn’t really matter.
We had an infinite supply of scrap paper because of this. I remember the piles being several feet tall at times. My younger sister and I used the paper for practically every activity we partook in. We made our props, wrote down imaginary lists, drew, folded origami. Everything a child could do with paper, we did. My mother truly made our lives full, and for this I am eternally grateful. I remember loving those stacks of paper because they were filled with the infinite potential for anything imaginable. They signified hours of playtime.
As I grew, I always had an appreciation for paper. I would say I used to even be a paper snob. I attribute this partially to my being a designer and paying attention to the quality of paper as it makes a significant difference when printing out graphic design work. I also attribute it to my mother’s continuous supply of an array of scrap paper from her office: typing paper, bond paper, woven paper, printer, paper, canary yellow paper, loose leaf, etc. I appreciate paper, so I also took great care of the paper I did use.
I’m not certain whether today’s release is obsolete (at least to me) because I no longer use loose leaf paper to write notes as I used to in college, or if it’s because most writing is done on my computer now. Loose leaf paper hole reinforcements, the little donut stickers that repair the hole punches. This is my object for the day.
People sometimes note the objects I have and have asked, “what does the person receiving your object think?” Particularly if the object is something that seems of little value. As I’ve noted throughout this practice, the importance, is not what the receiver does with the object, it is the process of giving and letting go that is my interest. I let the receiver know they are free to do whatever they please with their object, and also that I am appreciative of them because they are a part of this project.
So on Day 339 of my 365 Release practice for non-attachment, letting go and change, I am giving something away I kept because I forgot even what they were for, and letting them go so someone may perhaps save their old loose leaf notes.
[I created the 365 Release Project to practice non-attachment, letting go and change by giving away 1 thing a day for 1 year. The background, vision and guidelines to the 365 RELEASE project are here. The running list of everything I have released is here.]
Wonderful legacy…I use paper for lists.beginings of spoken word,shopping direx to a particular bodega on buford hwy in Atl,bill pay and herb and fire place starters…paper mache if the quality is nice enough.Save some leaves for me.
Your mom was on to something…
Blessings,
Cassandra Buchanan
Sounds like a plan! Thanks for checking out the entry!