When I decided to revisit my 52-Week Decluttering Challenge this year, I knew it was just a matter of time before I’d find something that would inspire me to reprise the Clutter Tales series. It took a few weeks into the year, but then I discovered my old blue suede bowling shoes. They brought back a lot of memories, but it was time to let them go.
About Clutter Tales
Clutter Tales is a series where we tell the stories of our lives through our clutter. During my decluttering journey, I found a lot of things that took me back to a different place and time. Instead of casually discarding them, I decided to honour them by telling their story. I’ve written Clutter Tales about a high school shorthand textbook, an old airline ticket, a travel diary from my trip to France at age 18, notes from a visit to a fortune teller, and more!
Along with my own reflections, this series has featured posts by some of my favourite bloggers. If you’d like to write a guest post for Clutter Tales, please get in touch. I’d love to give you the opportunity to properly thank your clutter by sharing its story too!
Now, on to today’s clutter tale…
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Clutter Tale – Don’t step on my blue suede bowling shoes!
What do you think of when you hear “blue suede shoes”? I suspect it might be this…
Well, it’s one for the money
Two for the show
Three to get ready
Now go, cat, go
But don’t you
Step on my blue suede shoes
You can do anything
But stay off of my blue suede shoes
Carl Perkins, “Blue Suede Shoes
The song is great! But for me, blue suede always brings back memories of bowling, and these little babies I uncovered when decluttering…
When you show up at a bowling alley with your own shoes, people get the idea that you’re actually good at bowling. Well, appearances are deceiving. Those stylish blue suede bowling shoes did nothing to improve my game. Let me take you back…
The office bowling league
In the 1980s, I worked in the credit and collections department at Encyclopaedia Britannica in Cambridge, Ontario. Bowling must have been a thing back then because someone decided we should join a bowling league. Our office wasn’t that big, but we had enough interest to put together several teams. I was in my early 20s and single, so a Wednesday evening outing sounded like a good idea to me.
Every Wednesday evening for several years, we made our way to Dickson Bowl in downtown Galt. Over the course of the years, you would think I’d develop some sort of skill. Nope! My average never improved much, and I was throwing just as many gutter balls at the end of the experience as I did on the first night. So much for the lucky shoes!
Someone must have thought bowling was my thing because I also found this while decluttering…
I didn’t develop any skill but, if I’m honest, I was really there for the socializing and the beer. Oh, and I recall the fries and gravy at the bowling alley were pretty good too.
Times change but memories remain
Fast forward 40 years. Dickson Bowl is gone—demolished after a fire raged through the long-abandoned building. Downtown Galt is no longer a place I’d feel safe waiting for a bus at 11:00 at night. And Encyclopaedia Britannica closed its Cambridge office years ago. Times change, and sadly I’ve lost touch with almost all of the wonderful ladies that I shared so many laughs with over those years of bowling. It would be fun to have a reunion with them.
Reliving these memories reminded me of how social media has made it so much easier to stay connected with former school friends and co-workers. That’s the positive side of social media that we need to maintain.
In the end, I thanked the blue suede bowling shoes for the memories and posted them on our local Buy Nothing group. They have now gone to a new home. But the memories remain.
I hope you enjoyed this installment of Clutter Tales. Please get in touch if you’d like to write a guest post for Clutter Tales. I’d love to give you the opportunity to properly thank your clutter by sharing its story too!
What workplace social activities have you participated in? Tell me your stories below.
Oh, I do remember those Blue Suede puppies! That was such fun, I’d forgotten all about the Bowling years! We worked with some lovely people at Encyclopaedia Britannica! Do you still have the “slippers” that went for a Bus ride? Good memories ❤️❤️😄.
It was fun. I often wonder about the people we worked with at Britannica. I don’t remember the slippers at all. LOL
Your decluttering adventures have inspired me to start my own (I began yesterday) and it’s great to sort through what to recyle, donate and give away. I have yet to find things that triggered memories like you experienced but I know I will likely find something. It really is wonderful when we can remember key moments or lovely memories (I seem to remember the bowling alley food I had was top notch, haha)!
LOL, Molly. I’ve had several comments about the bowling alley food. What does that say about my readers? Seriously, though, I love when people tell me they were inspired by my decluttering posts so thank you for that. And if you find anything that inspires you to write a clutter tale, I’d be happy to feature you on my blog.
It is great to find memories in items you discover. I used to love bowling and also never improved. I went for the snacks.
Ha ha. I’m sensing a common theme. It was really all about the food for a lot of us. Definitely a social sport.
This post brought back memories for me as well Michelle. I got talked into teaming up with a coworker or two and a few random others to join a bowling league in the 80’s as well! I didn’t have my own shoes, but I did have my own ball and matching bag. It was a lot of fun but I was horrible! I think it was really more about drinking beer than anything 🙂
LOL, Deb. It seems that was the case for many of us. It was all about the beer.
Ummm…I’m not ashamed to admit that bowling alley fries are always the best. It’s been years…but I remember! 😜
Oh, definitely! It’s all about the fries. I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago and, on the weekend, we drove past the old Dickson Bowl site. Sad to see it has been reduced to rubble.
😉