Have you ever been held hostage...

by a stupid, inconsequential object?  I'm not being deep here -  I mean this ridiculous pink plastic paper clip.  Yes, the one right there.  I've been hanging on to this thing for probably twenty years.  I once discovered this quirky little gift shop that sold oddball office supplies, of which I admit that I am a big fan.  I bought three or four of the pink clips, a few purple ones, some funky pink scissors and a really cute tiny pink stapler.  One by one, over the years, the clips broke and the stapler went the way of earth.  I still use the scissors every day, but  I am down to one last pink plastic paper clip.  For a long time, I used it to mark the current day in my desk calendar - and then I embraced Outlook.  PPC (for lack of a better name) was relegated to marking my place in reading material, clipping bills together, holding my to-do list to the outside of my to-do folder; you name it, PPC is nothing if not versatile.  And then today, while I continued my annual pre-tax season get-the-house-in-order-to-get-the-carpet-cleaned frenzy, I found myself looking at PPC, lying there on the desk - all alone, no longer having any real purpose in the big scheme of things.  I am aiming for a relatively clutter-free work space - like that will really happen, but everyone needs a goal to strive for.  I don't need PPC anymore; he has outlived his place in my life.  I momentarily contemplated encouraging him to end it all by clipping a stack of papers beyond his ability.  No, I didn't want to be an accessory to what would surely amount to a crime against hard-working plastic paper clips everywhere.  I decided to just let PPC go; I took his photo, said thanks for the all of his faithful service and tossed him into the wastebasket.  Who knows where he'll end up - but I hope he's happy in his retirement.

  And no, I'm not insane - I just have really bizarre thoughts sometimes.