Sorting Out the Past
Barring our repression of painful memories which we may be loathe confronting, what does one do with memorabilia of the past whether in the guise of tangible mementos or fond memories? I have no compunction dredging and revisiting events from the past to reinterpret them from my current vantage point in life. Selected memories seem to flourish under a patina of nostalgia from the good old days. I take comfort in storing fond memories in the deep recesses of my mind for their imminent retrieval.
It’s the tangible mementos linking me to the past I take umbrage with. Pictures, for one–mostly Polaroid, some in black and white… I have slews of them in various unsorted envelopes still containing the original negatives. Lacking the motivation to make chronological sense through scrap booking, these photographs will languish in boxes.
I also have issues with revisiting places from the past. Once so significant, they no longer fit the schematic configuration of my present life so I let them lie as sleeping dogs. I still recall what I wore on the last day of my teaching career but I’ve never walked through those set of doors again to see what became of my classroom inside a school that was my second home for 29 years.
It’s the same with movies I’ve taped, erroneously thinking I will make the time to view favorites again. I finally had the good sense to throw away my home brewed installment of Winds of War. What was I thinking?
It should come as no surprise that I don’t do high school or college reunions either… I will always cherish memories from the past for their recycled wisdom, amusing anecdotes, and animations of family members no longer present. There is just too much living to do for me to get bogged down with memorabilia right now.
Eva Pasco is the author of Women’s Fiction for gals over forty. Her novel, Underlying Notes, is available through AMAZON:
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I loved the article. I believe we all have memories of the past stashed in boxes hidden under the bed or in the closet…but which closet. Some of my past memories are better left in the boxes. You have the right idea in getting rid of old books, cd’s, movies, and anything that clutters our life. We should take a lesson from you
Pam,
It has taken me years to abandon my pack rat mentality harking back to my teaching days. I’ll never forget the time I scrounged butcher bones from the supermarket and scoured the beach for skeletal remains to make different plaster casts for my students to emulate paleontologists…that had to be one of the final straws!
I’d always meant to sort out those pictures or watch those tapes but I never seemed to find the time, enabling me to realize I’m at my best moving forward.
Eva
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