A bag of two fish heads in the freezer. That’s what my mom and I found when making room for food. The two heads in a zippered bag were almost recognizable at first glance, but when I looked more closely through the frost, there were four big fish eyes staring at me.

Why?

I never got a clear answer from my dad, but I’m sure he had a good reason for putting the fish heads in the freezer. But he certainly no longer needed them. They were past their prime.

I started thinking about the many things we keep, and even make attempts to preserve, because we can imagine a future purpose. Then, out of sight, out of mind. We forget about the things we thought would be so useful. When we finally rediscover them, they are no longer useful, or we’ve forgotten the purpose we were intent upon at some point.

We really shouldn’t store things “just in case.” They take up space. They cause us more work in the future. And they can get pretty stinky over time.

No more fish heads in the freezer.