I have recently been going through my precious memories (or "junk" according to my mother) to lighten my load for my upcoming move. No matter that I don't know where I'll be moving or what I'll be doing – I know for sure that I won't be able to lug everything around. The sorting experience has reminded me of two conclusions:
1) I am a sentimental fool
2) I can delegate
Number one appears straightforward, but it's not as hopeless as it sounds. It's not that I'm materialistic and glued to my possessions – I'm just scared of losing all my memory prompts. This shred of paper reminds me of that time we ran around aimlessly laughing all afternoon. That trinket box was given to me by my best friend when I was eleven – what's she doing now? I used to use those stickers to imagine I was in a different world, one I'd forgotten about...
My belongings are my memories, my history and context: me. My memory is terrible, and without prompts, I'm afraid I'd forget so many experiences that have shaped me. People keep telling me that if I haven't noticed something is gone is storage for a few months, then it wasn't really important to me and I'll forget about it. But forgetting something doesn't mean it wasn't important. I don't just want to remember the watershed moments of my life; I want details, colors, moments.
Despite that nostalgic spiel, I don't mind delegating a lot of my stuff. Instead of throwing my stuff away, I have started giving it away. (You're welcome Hannah, mom, dad, Emma, Lex...). Yup. Problem is, everyone I know is in different states and countries, so that was quite a bill.
Shout Out: To Emma Cole and FosterMcnealy0426. Yes, FosterMcnealy has left me my second unintelligible comment, which I greatly appreciate (though I would love to read it...)
And Emma Cole: in the blog world you're quite well known as an HIV survivor. Online, you're also quite a creepy novel writer. In my world you're just another sarcastic redhead who grew up in Japan and occasionally channels a prepubescent male named Louis. Go figure.
4 comments:
Take pictures of your treasures, store them on a disc, and throw away it all away!
Mom :-)
I kneeeeew you would say that. I almost stuck it in there, but I didn't.
mother, I need tangibility.
ahhhhhhhhh
NO
MEMORIES LOST FOREVER!
ahhhhh, just another one of those. thank you for blogging again. i've been waiting. actually though, good for emma cole for surviving hiv!
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