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{HeartTouchers.com}   *The Junk Drawer* 

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Good morning HeartTouchers.com readers!

Today we take a fun look at that special drawer that every house has:  "The Junk Drawer!"  I remember that when our son Caleb was three years old, he walked up to my wife Kristi and said, "Mommy, what you call your junk drawer, I call my TREASURE DRAWER!"

Enjoy today's story by one of our most prolific writers, Al Batt.

From my family to yours,
Michael


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THE JUNK DRAWER

by Al Batt


Where did the flyswatter hang in the kitchen of the house you grew up in? Which closet kept the used Christmas wrapping paper? Where did the stacks of old National Geographic magazines collect dust? Every home has roots, warmth, anchors, laughter, tears, a place to hang a flyswatter and a junk drawer. I'm sure archaeologists have discovered junk drawers in caves.

The junk drawer. It's a yard sale in a drawer.  The junk drawer is a place where things slink off to hide from us.  A place for things that have moved well off the beaten path. It's like an attic. We tend to forget what's in the attic.  It's always a surprise--pleasant or unpleasant--when we once again see what inhabits the attic.

The junk drawer is like a museum without a curator--a museum without a custodian.

As a boy, I knew that while some houses had a number of junk drawers, every house had at least one junk drawer. The junk drawer was like an old friend.  It had a personality.  It had its good points and its bad points. It had its strengths and its weaknesses.

You could take a photo of the contents of your family's junk drawer, give it to Sherlock Holmes and the famous sleuth would be able to tell just about everything worth knowing about you and yours. The junk drawer was a nook.  It was a cranny.  It was perfectly suited to do what it did.

The junk drawer kept things that we probably didn't need to keep.  A junk drawer is like a mind.  We can remember the room number of our 7th grade study hall, but forget our PIN for the ATM or our cell phone number.  The junk drawer harbors things of no use or value.  We need to rummage through our brain occasionally, just as we rummage through a junk drawer.

What did you keep in your junk drawer? Probably a lot of the same stuff we kept in ours. First there was always tape--duct, masking, Scotch and Band-Aids. Ernest Hemingway wrote, "Life breaks everyone, but the tough become strong in the broken places."  The junk drawer tape helped make broken places strong.

What were all of those keys for?  No one knows that many doors.

Rubber bands, twist ties, petrified gum, ink pens that dried up years ago, Tic-Tacs that had welded together into a super-sized breath freshener, dead flashlight batteries, an earring that had lost its mate, feral screwdrivers, escaped screws and nails, expired coupons, bent paper clips, a sticky coin or two, unidentifiable bits of plastic, a Scotch tape dispenser that refused to dispense, candles, a hammer without a handle, a bottle cap or two, clothespins, broken crayons, a piece of chalk, a dried orange peel, buttons, a couple of safety pins, garden seeds in a package that says they should be planted by 1988, an unsigned birthday card from back when Eisenhower was the president and lots of loose string.  Flotsam and jetsam.

They are things that once brought us happiness that found their way into a drawer that we didn't know we'd left open.  Things that were once useful and wanted wait to be useful and wanted once again.  They end up in the junk drawer because they don't really fit anywhere else.

Bits of our lives that have been tossed aside.  Lost treasures and broken items.  Things just a little too good to throw away.  Each tells a story.  Each was something we needed.  Something that we had to have.  Something that we're not so sure we still need. Some of the stuff ended up in its present location because the drawer was closer than the waste basket.

A junk drawer is a junk pile that stays within limits due to the size of the drawer.  It's life in small doses.  Adlai Stevenson said that many things are revealed to the humble that are hidden from the great.  A junk drawer is a humble place.

Our current junk drawer has been opened thousands of times.  It has been shaved and soaped, but it still squeaks. It's a drawer full of hopes, dreams and memories. It may be a drawer filled with junk rather than money, but it's a drawer that remains optimistic. It's proof that the quality of life is more important than the standard of living. 

"We really need to clean that junk drawer this weekend."

Why do we call it a junk drawer? It's not junk.

The junk drawer.  It has everything I'll never need.

Al Batt, © 2004
SnoEowl@aol.com

Write Al and let him know your thoughts on his story!

Al Batt is a husband, father and grandfather who lives on a farm near Hartland, Minnesota.  He is a writer, speaker and storyteller.  He writes a newspaper column. He does a regular TV and radio show, contributes to many magazines and newspapers, and is an avid birder.



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Michael's updated book Heart Touchers "Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter," is finally here! ($13.95)

Visit the link below to preview the book!  Personalized autographed copies are available at no extra charge and we pay the shipping for you!  An E-book version is also available for just $6.95!

http://www.hearttouchers.com/books


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Thought For The Day:

"At times it is better to keep your mouth shut and let people wonder if you're a fool, then to open it and remove all doubt."--James Sinclair


Verse for the Day:

"Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. --Proverbs 17:28


Kid's Thought For The Day:

"Wait for your little sister."


Parent's Thought For The Day

"Work can wait while you show a child the rainbow. The rainbow won't wait while you do the work."


Coach's Thought For The Day

"Don't just coach them, touch their lives!"


Writer's Thought For The Day:

"I wonder what's in a book while it's closed. Oh, I know it's full of letters printed on paper, but all the same, something must be happening, because as soon as I open it, there's a whole story with people I don't know yet and all kinds of adventures and deeds and battles. And sometimes there are storms at sea, or it takes you to strange cities and countries. All those things are somehow shut up in a book. Of course you have to read it to find out. But it's already there, that's the funny thing. I just wish I knew how it could be." --Michael Ende


Deep Thought For The Day:

"My friend thought a personal trainer was someone who did the exercises for you."


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Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business

Dear Michael,

I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for the beautiful video you made for me! It was so special to see both of my parents in tears as they watched their children grow up in pictures before their eyes! I loved the way you made Estania's part set aside from the rest--that was the part that really got them! The music was beautiful. My mom kept blubbering, "What song is that?" I don't know how you did such a beautiful job with the video in such a short time. I really appreciate your doing it so quickly. You have a wonderful gift, and I thank God that you are using it to create such sentimental memories. I hope that I can find my niche like that in an area that I love. Your video gave us one of our most lasting Christmas memories! I hope yours was filled with moments to be treasured forever!
Love,
Trisha
Silverhill, AL

Let me make you a video from your photos!
Check out my video production business
by visiting: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery

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Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you?
http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm

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Reading Books, Changing Lives!

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You can now order a number of different autographed best-selling inspirational books for the same price you would get them in the store, the shipping to you is paid for, and you are helping change the lives of teenagers and those they come in contact with!

http://www.HeartTouchers.com/books


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A number of people have written to us asking what an EBook is, since our book is being offered in both print and EBook versions.  An EBook is a book that can be downloaded and read right on your computer. The advantage of ordering the EBook is that is costs less, $6.95 (No other charges), as compared to $13.95 for the print book. Plus your EBook will arrive the same day you order it and you can begin reading the stories right away!

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http://www.hearttouchers.com/books