i'm a saver. not a hoarder, per se. but a saver. as in i save personal items. notes passed to me in junior high? i have them all. doodle laced notes from high school boyfriends? got 'em. movie stubs? concert tickets? prom corsages? i have them all. throwing such items aways feels wrong, as if i'm throwing away memories. so i store them away in shoe boxes, hat boxes, and drawers, just in case. just in case...i recently read this article from slate. it made me think a lot about the day when i'll have to clear out my many boxes of junk, er, artifacts from my parent's home. i'd like to think i could keep all those tangible memories, but, realistically, there will come a time when i'll have to throw some of it away. but you know, maybe that's ok. maybe i don't need to remember everything. maybe i need to have faith in my brain, understanding that i'll remember what i do, and what i forget is meant to be.
but right now, as a large box sits under my bed that is full of everything from dive bar coasters to wristbands from sweaty summer festivals, i'm not ready to part with these things. and, to be honest, i'm going to keep saving until i have someone or some situation tell me i can't.
Funny I read this tonight--earlier I was going through a box marked with the words "Pack Rat" sent home with me the last time I was at my parents' house. To be honest, I threw out very little, but I enjoyed re-reading the cards, seeing what musicals I attended, finding stickers from who-knows-what... And, to be perfectly honest, I found a card from a friend that I really needed to read right now. Funny how years and years later the words were more meaningful then they were when they were written. Enjoy those relics from the past.
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