Things and Stuff

I can have a hard time letting go of tangibles.
   Once upon a time, what I would do with an item that I struggled with discarding was (1) take a picture of it and (2) tell Roscivs a story about it (3) discard it straightway.

The picture was his idea.
   When it came time to process the data card (once it was full) I would keep the picture if I still wanted a picture. This may have happened once or twice, but I can't specifically remember it. Usually by that time I had already let go, realized I was happy without it, and chose to delete the picture.

Now I skip the picture step.

Some things I have held onto until now:
   • 20+ lb. of Japanese language learning papers (many of which don't even have R's handwriting on them ... all of which are materials I can't read)
   • a sea shell that my childhood penpal Ricki painted and sent to me
   • scrapbook papers — e.g., a spate of trite poems that I wrote (by assignment, in response to trite prompts) in 5th grade

What do those things mean to me? I choose to use this blog post, rather than those papers, to commemorate
   • how Roscivs was so unusually devoted to and delighted by learning;
   • how thoughtful a penpal Ricki was (that shell was her postcard to me from a vacation in Mexico);
   • how in 5th grade I was oversaturated with vacuous assignments

I feel better now.