Every object has bound up in it a thousand memories, or so it seems. If I throw them away, it feels like I am ripping away a part of myself.
Take these programs. Many, many moons ago, I was falling deeply in love with This Guy, and This Guy and I went to these shows together.
Are we together now? No.
Are we likely together to be together anytime in the foreseeable future? No.
What is the feeling when I look at them? Pain, rejection, regret.
So I was holding onto them because....? Who knows - I'm a stupid masochist?
Will I forget the good times we shared, if I don't have the keepsakes any longer? Unless I get Altzheimers, not damn likely.
So I am cluttering up my home with them because...?
Hello, shredder, goodbye, flyers.
I have this towel, that every time I look at it, gives me a twinge of pain.
Goodbye, towel that I bought for Guy to use when we went camping together. Hello, Goodwill donation!
All those pictures of me and (another) ex in my family photos frames? Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.
Part of this hoarding thing, of course, is inertia. It takes a fair amount of work to take the photo collages off the wall, to choose new photographs that already are or can be resized to replace the old ones. Easier to just let the old ones stay hanging out on the wall. And, bite me, I gotta go buy new INK cartridges before I can print out my new photos!
Yet. If I want, someday, to bring a new lover into my life (and I do), it's not a real promising start if I am bringing him into an environment overflowing with pictures and keepsakes from ex-boyfriends.
I wouldn't react very positively if the situation was reversed. *I* don't want to visit a new flame's home and feel like it is so crowded with keepsakes and memorabilia of bitches from his prior life that I would have to wedge myself into a small, unobtrusive corner.
Everybody i carrying around baggage, But do we have to keep it on display in the living room?
Prolly not.
In other personal news:
My sister's cancer is officially in remission. Yay!
A second "celebration of life" was held for my brother-in-love in Sequoia National Forest. It was beautiful, and sometimes fraught with small personal dramas, and many tears. I miss him, and it hurts.
All my loved ones are all now moving forward with life, love, and dealing with our personal angels and demons.
As do we all, every day.
Hugs and healing to you.
Your thoughts?
