Not everyone is cleaning out their closets

While it seems the entire country is cleaning up and clearing out closets, cupboards, and creepy, crawly basements by saying good-bye to items that no longer spark joy, some people aren’t feeling the magic.

Marie Kondo, the best-selling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing is helping thousands (maybe millions with a new Netflix show), clear lives of clutter and keep only what sparks joy.

My parents have so much joy.

So very, very much.

I shared some of this joy on stage with Every Family’s Got One (a story that is), when I shared some wet and dirty family secrets with a crowd in Huntington, New York.

Take a listen:

Thanks to the Every Family’s Got One producers, Kathy Radigan and Barbara Herel, for finding my story worth telling. (I highly recommend auditioning and/or attending, it’s a class act and a terrific evening of storytelling.)

The crowd was so kind, and reached out to me after the show, some concerned I would throw away valuable items:

“Don’t toss Miss Beasley, I just sold one for $100 on eBay!

But many more said they were going home to clean out their basements.

And just in case you think I’m making this up, here ya go. We literally saved Gary Carter from drowning:

*This story originally appeared on KathrynMayer.com in 2011, and the basement has remained dry since, has been somewhat organized, but still, so much joy.