I found this in the fridge today. Actually, I knew it was there. I’ve known it was in the fridge for quite a while because it is our last bottle of the tea Tod loved one summer.
Its expiration date is 2003-11-02. It is a decade old!
Tod’s been saving the tea, so I never touched it. I didn’t realise I had let an entire ten years pass since it was put away for safekeeping. I am pretty sure it is well past drinkable now. Unlike wine, tea doesn’t age in the bottle. But I can’t bear to throw it away. It’s Tod’s special tea.
This is one of the strangest things about getting older and being settled into a place for a long time. Belongings age without you ever realising it.
We have lived in this apartment since 2001. Looking around, there are definitely things that moved in here with us. Some of them are in a passive role – the curtains, for example. I wash them annually and rehang them and they are still fine at 14 years. My desk came with us from a different house; Tod’s desk is the one we rented when we first arrived in Japan. There’s no particular need to replace them.
Some things probably do need replacing, or just throwing out. For example, the old tupperware with the annoyingly cracked lid. I bought it for 100 yen some years ago, maybe 7. It can be retired and replaced. We considered replacing our partially sprung mattress (circa 1998) but opted for a memory foam topper instead. Beds are expensive; we’ll live with this one until we move. If we ever move.
And other things just want cleaning. It is time to clean the beige wall-to-wall carpet. I know this because Max is going on three now. I had the carpet cleaned while Tracey was pregnant (and she used the same service to have her carpet cleaned before Max arrived). So it’s no wonder that there is a new accumulation of coffee stains and wear. Note to self, call the cleaning company.
Regular readers know I am not exactly a packrat. I clear out clutter frequently and try to avoid attracting more. But somehow…there was a ten year old tea in the fridge.
