This isn't easy for me to admit, but like any rational person looking for a diagnosis I just Googled it.
That's probably my first mistake.
But according to Dictionary.com I've been engaging in some very characteristic hoarding behavior.
Look here:
Hoard - to accumulate money, food, or the like, in a hidden or carefully guarded place for preservation, future use.
That's it.
I have it.
I'm definitely a hoarder.
I really don't know how this happened.
I'm not typically a collector at all. I don't like junk, I have a relatively small house and I don't deal well with clutter and mess.
It aggravates my decorating OCD enormously.
Yet, somehow, someway since I started writing this blog, I have indeed begun needing, collecting and hiding.
I was worried that it wasn't normal and now Google has confirmed it.
Oh boy.
Prevailing wisdom says that one must admit to a problem before they can get well. So, in an effort to obtain a better state of mental health, I admit it.
I am a hoarder.
I collect...quotes.
Ah, there it is, I said it.
I don't know how it started, really.
I've always liked words, metaphors, sayings. They appeal to the romantic in me.
I love the deep sentiments that make me think and, for some reason, when an ugly or unpleasant thought is camouflaged in the charm of a quote, it's so much easier to deal with.
Even better, some quotes are really funny, but generally I find that most of them contain life's little truths.
The perfect words for any situation wrapped up in a neat little package that I can easily recall when an appropriate situation arises.
I love that.
Before the blog, my exposure to quotes was fleeting.
I would occasionally run across them here and there, but now I am on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and reading other blogs just about every day.
There's a constant barrage of words floating across my screen and try as I do, I cannot look away. I read them, ponder them, seek them out and then, I hide them.
I do.
I have a secret board on Pinterest, where I keep quotes that I think I may need for my blog in the future.
I have a word file where I place other quotes, those un-pinable quotes that I just hear or read in books or magazines.
And I have a lot.
Too many to count, too many to ever write about....and some of them are not really for "work" anyway. Those inappropriate quotes, the ones that make me laugh.
Hard. Just not in the presence of polite company.
Oh. I guess I could read them all and let them go.
But I can't.
I keep them.
I guess I never know when I might need one.
When I was teaching, one of my favorite stories to read to the kids in the fall was Frederick, by Leo Lionni.
It's a super sweet story about a family of mice preparing for winter.
Everyone is working hard gathering supplies to keep them well fed and warm during the cold, everyone except Frederick.
He just lays about and when asked why by his family, he tells them that he is working, he's collecting the warm rays of the sun, the colors of summer and words.
They mock him, but of course, when they all run out of food, Frederick comes to the rescue with a simple poem.
Words save the day.
I love that story, but I'm just not sure if it's as charming when a middle aged housewife is stashing a bunch of quotes online to whip out at some undetermined point in the future.
Simply to have content for her blog.
Or something pithy to recite to her children.
But at this point I can't stop myself.
So I guess it doesn't really matter.
Does it?
What do you collect? (It's ok, I won't tell anyone - I swear!)
If you're looking for more funny stories, check out my Story tab. Lots of words there.
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