As I’ve watched our old fence be demolished and hauled away, only to observe a brand, spanking new fence being erected in its place, I began to think about all of the other things I’ve been more than happy to say, “Sayonara” to…and geez, the list was longer than I thought it would be:

1. My first car, an incredibly unsexy 1985 Nissan 200SX: I got it my third year of college, and managed to put 90k miles on it over the next five years. When I finally unloaded it, coughing and sputtering, on the fine folks at Carmichael Honda…they gave me $700 in pity money for it. I then drove away in my sexy 1996 Honda Civic.

2. College: Seriously, I was so happy to get out of college. I graduated in 1993, and while my contemporaries were modifying their schedules in 1992 so they wouldn’t be able to graduate the next year and instead could “ride out the recession” within the safe confines of university life, I wanted nothing more but to get the hell out. I remember “adults” telling me that “the real world” was hard, but all I could think was how I didn’t care if I worked eight hours a day as long as I’d get my evenings and weekends free. Now look where I am. On a related note, The Powers That Be have changed the name of my old dorm…now that I am sad to see go.

3. Pounds 150-172: I said goodbye to you in 2003 and haven’t looked back. Well, maybe a little. Good riddance.

4. Master P on Dancing with the Stars, season two: Hey…did you know BBC America is re-running the Drew Lachey season? The season premiere was last Sunday night.

5. 2005: That was a tough year.

6. 2006: That was a tough year, too…although not quite as trying as 2005.

7. The boyfriend I had before Capt. UberHusband came along: There’s always that one person you stayed with far too long, and when you finally unload them you don’t feel sadness…you feel unbelievable relief. I always check the newspapers to see if he’s been arrested.

8. My BFF in college: Sadly, we were only able to be BFFs until she decided to go all Asian-American sorority on me and begin hating everything I did and everything about me. The feelings eventually became mutual, and we did not part on good terms. I stopped being upset about the loss of our friendship when her mom woke me up at 7 AM one weekend morning by calling and demanding I repay her for the meals they treated me to when I went to her house to visit. Yeah.

9. The TV we used to have in our bedroom: I got that TV in 1993, and it went from apartment to apartment to house until we got rid of it after CU’s return from Iraq in 2006 (sidenote: Yay! I can’t say “last year” anymore!). The behemoth weighed about 800 lbs. and took up an insane amount of space. The picture was getting so bad, I had to wear my glasses to see the screen.

10. My last job: Even though I left nearly four years ago, that was by far the most toxic job environment I have ever been in. Oh, if I knew then what I know now…well, let’s just say I probably could have taken a specific someone out.

11. The wallpaper in our bathroom: I guess back in 1994 it was fashionable to have glaringly white wallpaper with frightening vines and other species of flora weaving all through the pattern, but I hated it in 2001. That wallpaper was the first thing to go when we bought this house, and I cheered when CU and his friend Jim were painstakingly removing it.

12. Holiday candy, cakes, and sweets: These items are the reason I had to write “150″ instead of “145″ up at #3.

13. Searing pain in my hip: It took quite a bit longer than I’d expected, but the cortisone injection has finally kicked in. Take that!

What about you? What have you been more than happy to extricate from your life?