The junk drawer

We had one when I was growing up, I had one when I was single, my husband and I have one now. What is it about the family "junk drawer" that we never seem to outgrow and cannot live without?

Rubber bands, paper clips, hotel note pads, pens from around the world I understand. What I don't get are the bits and pieces that seem to have no purpose, yet we cannot toss them out;

The chain piece to a door lock long ago removed
The label of a wine we once enjoyed
A CD for a version of AOL my darling husband used in 2003
A broken mechanical pencil that no one tries to fix
Fabric swatches, tile samples, business cards and book marks
An article torn from a magazine, one shoe lace, expired coupons
And keys, keys, keys ... of every size and shape and color imaginable.

Why do we save things that on the surface appear to have no purpose? Why don't we just let it go in the first place, instead of tossing it in the junk drawer? Why does my husband get that look of fear on his handsome face when I casually mention it's time to dump out the junk drawer?

What's in your junk drawer? I bet you don't even know. But I'm challenging you to explore that forbidden territory, and to do some dumping of your own!

As for me, I know what I'm going to be doing this afternoon.