What’s in my drawer?

Slice of Life '26 1 Minute

I remember reading a slice about the junk drawer in someone’s kitchen. I wish I remembered who it was so I could link it here. Last night, after climbing into bed to read a few more slices, I texted our school slicing group with kudos for completing week 1 and a few reminders to make the most of week 2. I suggested keeping it simple when coming up with slice ideas. Then, I remembered that “drawer” slice, so I went with it:

• A bottle of nighttime cold meds I [thankfully] don’t need anymore. But Tim soon might? He tends to catch colds more often than I.

• A black flair pen and my sentence notebook, which I now use during Thursday Night Writing Group.

• Orange stickers for my home calendar 🍊😃

• My maintenance inhaler and its replacement.

• My purple pillcase, reminding me that my week is ending.

• Chapstick I never use, along with a tiny tub of cocoa butter Vaseline that works best for my lips.

• One of Elena’s marble spheres for the amazing tracks we build with magnatiles. I keep them in my closet because #1 She’s still not that interested in building with those amazing tiles, and #2 She no longer puts stuff in her mouth, but these I’d rather have in my room.

• Our TV remote
*Currently fighting late-night temptation as I write these words.

• A tiny Polaroid of myself when I was 15 years old. It’s been here since we moved in June; I keep forgetting to put it in the box with the other old photos.

• Oh! My bracelet!

• A hair tie and some bobby pins.

• My 2014 iPod. Wish I could access!

• Debit/credit cards we don’t keep in our wallets.

• Trillian’s farewell letters when I left Egypt. She gave me 5 envelopes: open when you get to Miami, open on the day of your birthday, open when something amazing happens, open when you miss Cairo, open when something bad happens.

• One of many of Tim’s cases for his glasses. I swear we have like 10 of those in the house.

• The handwritten prayer my grandma gave me when I first went overseas.

I need to organize this thing. But that’s a task for another day.

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Published by Ana Valentina Patton

I aim to be a learner, not a knower. If I forget, please remind me.

Published

12 thoughts on “What’s in my drawer?”

  1. Love this:

    “Trillian’s farewell letters when I left Egypt. She gave me 5 envelopes: open when you get to Miami, open on the day of your birthday, open when something amazing happens, open when you miss Cairo, open when something bad happens.”

    What an amazing gift of love and support. Sounds like something out of a novel.

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  2. Exactly, Ana. I didn’t open my letter until I truly felt I hit rock bottom. How do I know? Well, I don’t, but if life gets worse for me than it was at the time I opened it, let’s just say there’s a LOT going on…

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  3. Oh wow! That is the one letter I haven’t opened. It’s interesting how, each time I’ve had a hard day, I sort of think of it but I choose to save it for something worse? That sounds messed up Hahaha
    I don’t know, I guess part of keeping it unread makes me feel closer to my friend? You made me think about this…

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  4. I absolutely loved this post, and you’d better believe I’ll be using this format at some point. As you made your way down the list (how much did I appreciate your asterisk with your “fighting late night temptation” comment?) I found myself thinking about what’s in MY junk drawers. And yes, I have more than one.

    Now…because I’m curious. HAVE you opened all of the letters? I’m asking because a friend of mine gave me an “open in the future on a hard day” letter and I kept it for about 20 years before I felt compelled to open it.

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  12. “Oh! My bracelet!” Haha! I love this slice and the things we discover along with you. I have too many glasses cases like Tim. Trillian’s letters are so 🥹 Cocoa butter vaseline sounds like a dream—I use a big tub of aquaphor every night!

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