How Many Xacto Knives Should I Take to Lithuania?

[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.0.47"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.0.106"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.0.47" parallax="off" parallax_method="on"][et_pb_image src="http://susansoesbe.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/X-Acto-knife.jpg" _builder_version="3.0.106"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.0.47" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.0.47" parallax="off" parallax_method="on"][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.0.47" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"]My father loved office supplies. He was never without a mechanical pencil and a three by five card, ready to jot down this thoughts at home or away. He was a man with a million ideas, and he had a hard time keeping them all from mixing together and getting lost. His way of organizing things was to pile up the items related to a project or idea: if the physical expression of a project could be segregated from the other things in the house, he would remember to work on it, and would have what he needed when he finally got around to it. The result was a house full of piles, mostly of paper and books, but sometimes of camping equipment, foodstuffs, medicines, or exercise supplies. It was organized in his mind.I still have things that belonged to my dad. He died fifteen years ago.Let that sink in: I’m highlighting portions of text with markers purchased by my father in California sometime prior to October 2003. And, he must have bought them well before that time, because he was sick for most of that year.Mom complained that whenever he couldn’t find something, say, a screwdriver of the correct size, he’d go out and buy a new one. But surely there must be some explanation for the great number of binder clips, pencils, highlighters, pencils, bankers clamps and other office paraphernalia. Surely, when he wanted a pencil he could find one. There was always one within arm’s reach.As I struggle through my last pencils, I don’t want to let them go. How many pencils do you need in Grove City, Susan? And don’t they have pencils there? Couldn’t you buy pencils in Lithuania?Yes, they do. And yes, I could. But now I know why Dad had so many. He didn’t want to run out. He didn’t want to have a brilliant idea, go to write it down, and find that he didn’t have a pencil.I want what I want when I want it. I want my tools right here with me, my companions. They’re not burdens. They’re the means by which I accomplish things.But what about the Xacto knife in the title, you ask?I have had an Xacto knife for over thirty years. I have a box of perhaps a hundred knife blades that has travelled with me to California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. How many times have I used this knife? Once. I bought the kids one of those cut-and-assemble books from Dover, and shortly realized they were too young to successfully wield the knife. I put it away for later, which never came.But I don’t want to give the knife away because….. I might need it. And you can’t just pop out to CVS and buy an Xacto knife, can you?No, but you can pop out to Staples and get one. For under six dollars. And I'll just bet they have them in Lithuania too. There are three huge malls near the university.My irrational fear of not having what I want when I want it places me in danger of having sixteen screwdrivers and living in a place dominated by carefully-assembled project piles.I decided to donate it.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]