Trashing the Past

I'm at my parent's house, cleaning out the last of my bedroom. The only items remaining are boxes containing my Easy-Bake collection and my child's doctor/nurse collection.

Deciding what to do with these items is very difficult. I don't really want the medical kit collection any longer, but most of the kits were from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. I have several that have real value, like my 60s GI Joe Nurse Kit, and the kit based on the Dionne Quints' doctor. Not to mention my Love Boat Medical Kit, or my Battlestar Galactica medical kit, or my Star Trek medical scanners. Oh, and my Dr. Kildare stethoscpe, and all my Ben Casey stuff. I don't have room for these in my life (or in my house) but it's financially irresponsible to throw them away.

The Easy-Bake stuff is even harder to part with. I really like all the little pans and ovens. I especially love the large variety of mix sets, and utensils, and gimmicks Kenner and Hasbro used to push the line to an unsuspecting crop if girls (and boys!) every year. These sets were so much fun when I was a kid. There is nothing like decorating cakes, even today. Kitchen creativity gone wild!! Anyway, I've spent a small fortune on Easy-Bake, most of it on fairly recent ovens and accessories that no one but me wants. It would be very difficult to resell most of these items.

I don't want to throw them out, but I don't want to risk bringing them to my house and becomming a collector again. I don't want to spend hours in front of eBay, and I don't want to spend all my money on a pointless hobby. I don't want my home to be like my mother's, where every corner is cram-packed with collectibles. I want space to breathe, and space to live. Space to rest the eyes.

So I know what I need to do -- toss everything in the trash -- but I can't bring myself to do it. I'll probably have to get Dad to do it while my back is turned.