Why do people hold on to remnants? I went home to Seattle a couple of weeks ago and my dad took me down to storage in their basement and just showed me this entire section that is all my stuff, "keepsakes" as he put it. Bins, and BINS full of stuffed animals, old school projects, old clothes, shoes, toys. I mean wow. I need to go home for an entire week just to go through it and see if it's actual "keepsakes" or if I was just in one of those moods that I felt I needed to hold onto it for the memory.
Nowadays remnants aren't necessarily things, they can be a photo in my phone, a text thread, a facebook message, an e-mail. They are in our digital bins. I still have a text thread where the last text was from March. I have absolutely no reason to keep it, it is a dead and gone situation, but there it lies, at the bottom of all my other text threads that are actually active. I saw it today, and it sparked this post. Why do people keep things like that? What good is it doing for my life? Is it something I am literally going to sit down and re-read? Absolutely not. Is it something I wish was still happening? Nope. So am I just so worried to lose the memory? And now here I am writing this and realizing the bizareness of it all, I still haven't deleted it.
Keeping remnants supplies us with several things, a walk down memory lane, to stumble upon something that sparks a past broken heart, a death, a happy time, a low time, a trip, an occasion, or just the smallest thing. We are an amazing being, as humans. We have the ability to keep a memory, dwell on it for a bit and carry on with our life. Then we have the ability to come across a reminder of that memory with our "keepsakes" and reminisce, shed a tear, smile, laugh. We can be broken down about it but at the same time still be up with our current situations. As I write this particular sentence, I am thinking of a dear friend who sent me an e-mail today of a past e-mail they came across from their ex. It was right after I had seen my text thread, and it falls in this same category. They included a sad face and I knew this had sparked that empty, low feeling in them, yet at the same time we had been e-mailing humorous banter. I wrote back immediately and said "delete it." Then went to click send but promptly added, "or bury it far, far away."
Now looking back at my response and second thought in the e-mail, I see why I have a stash of "keepsakes" in my parents house. It's an important part of who I am. And an important part of life.
Still haven't delete the thread. Don't know if I will.
Nowadays remnants aren't necessarily things, they can be a photo in my phone, a text thread, a facebook message, an e-mail. They are in our digital bins. I still have a text thread where the last text was from March. I have absolutely no reason to keep it, it is a dead and gone situation, but there it lies, at the bottom of all my other text threads that are actually active. I saw it today, and it sparked this post. Why do people keep things like that? What good is it doing for my life? Is it something I am literally going to sit down and re-read? Absolutely not. Is it something I wish was still happening? Nope. So am I just so worried to lose the memory? And now here I am writing this and realizing the bizareness of it all, I still haven't deleted it.
Keeping remnants supplies us with several things, a walk down memory lane, to stumble upon something that sparks a past broken heart, a death, a happy time, a low time, a trip, an occasion, or just the smallest thing. We are an amazing being, as humans. We have the ability to keep a memory, dwell on it for a bit and carry on with our life. Then we have the ability to come across a reminder of that memory with our "keepsakes" and reminisce, shed a tear, smile, laugh. We can be broken down about it but at the same time still be up with our current situations. As I write this particular sentence, I am thinking of a dear friend who sent me an e-mail today of a past e-mail they came across from their ex. It was right after I had seen my text thread, and it falls in this same category. They included a sad face and I knew this had sparked that empty, low feeling in them, yet at the same time we had been e-mailing humorous banter. I wrote back immediately and said "delete it." Then went to click send but promptly added, "or bury it far, far away."
Now looking back at my response and second thought in the e-mail, I see why I have a stash of "keepsakes" in my parents house. It's an important part of who I am. And an important part of life.
Still haven't delete the thread. Don't know if I will.
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