"Mom, I don't ever remember you using this one, and it still has stuff in it!"

On Friday, I helped my mom clean her room. After everything was cleaned up, I started on her closet. I organized it enough that her closet doors could shut without struggle. I was able to dig up six purses. I threw each new purse I found onto the bed, and one by one listened to the clanging and rustling noises they made when they landed. For some reason, all of the purses were still full of stuff from who knows how long ago, so instead of finishing my moms closet, we decided to clean out her purses. One by one we dug through purses, sorting out trash (candy wrappers, gum wrappers, old receipts, un-used diapers) and toys (tractors, backhoes, dump trucks, truck drivers) and miscellaneous items (unwrapped candy, pens, sticky-pad papers), until we were almost done. Then we came to "the special purse." "Mom, I don't ever remember you using this one, and it still has stuff in it!" I was half horrified and half amused. It was so dense, that I thought it was a scripture bag. I opened it to find everything but scriptures.

So I dumped it out to see what my mom carried around seven or eight years ago...

I found all sorts of things, things like the old Extra gum packs (empty), pens, lotion, receipts, a tape (those old things that people used to use to record things), random index cards, contact cards, old old old candy, same kind of gum, lots of wrappers, and my favorites ...

Does anyone want to guess how much change my mom was carrying around in her purse? We counted all but pennies ...

A palm pilot. Yes, one of these cavemen monsters. ;) I remember how cool these used to be. My mom told me how hard she worked to get one for my dad for his birthday. She didn't take any money out of the bank account at all. She worked hard to earn the money, doing endless jobs for my Nana and Oma. The palm pilot that she got for my dad is the same one I used to play on at church. Sadly, no one carries them around anymore...

Pepper spray. I would have taken it out of the case, except it was atight leather case, and I didn't want to risk it. I've heard too many stories about pepper spray. This is the type of thing you don't really need in Utah.

I just want to say one more thing before I finish: Yes mom, this will be mentioned at your funeral.