Throwing Away the Past

My parents finally convinced me to come and start cleaning up (and out) my room at home. It seems they have other plans for the room now, which is fair since I have no plans of living there anymore. However, cleaning it has been something I've been kind of avoiding for a while, seeing as my stuff has been accumulating in that room...well, since birth. My parents have not moved in my lifetime, and my numerous moves have brought home all kinds of stuff, which I had forgotten I ever had.

The job seemed simple enough: put the stuff I want to keep into certain boxes for storage, put the stuff I don't want in other boxes to give away. But, as I started, I realized making that distinction was not so easy. I found things that I had forgotten about, things I had thought I would never see again, and things I thought I had gotten rid of a long time ago. There were toys I played with as a child, books I read in grade school, love letters from past girlfriends, paychecks from five years ago, any kind of school supply imaginable, CDs in the strangest places, video game guides...my entire childhood, youth, and young adulthood.

Everything I found, no matter how small, brought back a memory. Some good, others not so good. Still, it led me to the dilemma: which memories do you keep and which do you throw away? In a lot of cases it was not an easy decision. Still, I found the results rather surprising. Some of what were my most treasured possessions were the first to go. On the other hand, some of the things which had little or no significance to me in the past I just couldn't get rid of.

The whole experience taught me a lot about what I value and how that has changed over the years. Looking back, I am glad for that change. I guess it is just part of growing up. It will probably take three more trips to finish the job. Who knows what else I might find.