I originally sketched out this post after I visited my mother during winter break but I didn't get around to actually writing the thing until now (partially because I forgot I had not written it).
I spent most of my visit with my mother helping her clean out her garage in preparation for moving. There was stuff in that garage from my mother's childhood up to that month, so you can grasp the amount of memorabilia that was in there.
But as I helped my mother clean up, I also cleaned out the stuff my mother had been holding on to. I ended up tossing a very large amount of stuff, some to my mother's horror (e.g., all of my high school yearbooks).
Why would I do such a thing? One might think I am not sentimental, which is not entirely true (although I am definitely not THAT sentimental in general). One is that my memory is pretty good. I know Meesh and various friends have been spooked by some of the details that I can remember about conversations. And this can extend a decent distance back through history. This means that I typically do not need memorabilia in order to remember an event that took place in my life. Usually I just need someone to mention something and I can remember most of the event.
And typically a photo works just as well for me to remind me of what happened than some bulkier object. The great things about photos is that they take up hardly any space and are easy to organize. I can snap away with my camera, download the photos to my computer, and print out the ones I truly like for posterity. Maybe I will go as far as to create a life poster at some point that I update on a yearly basis. At this point I have (or plan to) frame photos from significant trips I have taken and put them up on the wall.
Besides, shouldn't we be trying to minimize the amount of space one takes up in this world? Ignoring the ecological impact of the space one takes up, it just makes economic sense. Typically the smaller the space the cheaper it is compared to places to live in the same area. So you can either save money or live in a nicer neighborhood. This is especially important in a place like SF where housing prices continue to be ridiculous.
And most people, I think, typically only look at memorabilia once in a long while. Usually one is either cleaning up, a story is told, or some new member of the family needs filling in on someone's life history. Since the memorabilia is not pulled out constantly they should not be allowed to take up as much space and time most memorabilia takes up.
And this all applies to digital content as well to some extent. End up with too much stuff on your computer and you just can't find the stuff. You have to be disciplined and diligent to keep on top of the mass of files one accumulates over time.
In case this post didn't make it clear, I don't like holding on to stuff just for the slight possibility I will look at it, reflect for a moment, and then move on. I have moved too many times in my life to care to do that. I am sure people who have parents who still keep their first bedroom for them have a different feeling about all of this as they have not had to move all of that stuff at some point. But I have, and it is not fun. When you move almost yearly and only see certain things when you move you begin to realize that you are just shifting things around with no benefit to you for keeping that stuff. I am going to stick to photos and keep the amount of space that I take up in this world in terms of myself down for simplicity.
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