Letting go.... not for the faint of heart

Weird things I gently placed in the trash last night, assuming they have mycotoxins stuck to them, and will therefore compromise my health:

the last shred of my baby blankie
6 of my baby teeth
locks of my baby hair
locks of what I assume is my toddler hair
babptism record (I'm an atheist, but I did try to scan this, as though it were an insurance policy. Amusingly, the ink wouldn't show up for the scanner. Ha!)

I refer to "weird things" I threw away,  I suppose, to distance myself from the process. I didn't remember I had these things.

They're fun to look at, and it feels... very strange, for lack of a better word, to throw away memorabilia like this, especially when it was literally a part of your body.  But in the scheme of things, they're not a big deal. I have photos. I have memories.


It helps me to breathe out deeply when I put things in the trash or in the donation box that are "strange" to get rid of. With things that really mean a lot to me currently, in my adult life, it helps to swear or utter something like, "Aaarrggh" as the item leaves my hand.
It's weird: For the things I treasured, it's like a physiological process in addition to an emotional one, letting go of them. It definitely feels like "shedding skin."

It also helps to think of myself as a monk, and think that "letting go" (as opposed to "throwing away") is a good thing.  In that frame of mind, nothing is really "lost."

Update:
After writing this post, I felt weirder about throwing some of the above away. When I went to the apartment for more sorting the following night, I fished them out of the trash. ;)
I took a picture (hadn't had a camera before), kept the blankie piece and the baby hair, and put the rest back in the trash. Those teeth were actually pretty creepy!