As I begin to sift through my childhood things, to try to decide what to take with me and what to let go of forever, I find myself torn.
I want to live unencumbered by “stuff” and yet when I look at this or that, the memories flood in. To anyone else, it is just a polished blue-grey rock. Yet as I hold it, I remember who gave it to me and the friendship of youths from vastly different worlds and the tears that stood in our eyes when we parted ways forever.
The miniature tea set, many pieces missing or broken, that I loved so much to play with. How my grandmother would make tea for me in a pyrex measuring cup and then carefully pour it into my little teapot and take tea with me on the living room floor. And before that, when I was more prone to spills, little cups brimming with water. I have no use for them now, except perhaps to wrap and box for when I have little girls of my own. I doubt I would remember though, without them... I didn't remember, really, until I looked around my room just now.
I feel as if the choice becomes no longer a question of objects, but rather, memories. It is hard to throw away the object, because the object carries the memory with it, and I am afraid that if I let go of the object, the memory too, will disappear…
Am I crazy? Or do you feel that too?
Will I forget, if I let the object go? Am I ok with that? Perhaps I should take a picture? Write a story. Whatever comes to mind. Make a funny little album devoted to memories. Now that's a thought. Certainly much easier to move a single album than crates full of forgotten sentiment.
*Thank you to kellypea for her post, which prompted these thoughts and got me back into the blogging thing, at least for one night.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
do you remember...?
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3 comments:
You're not crazy; you're human. It's the otherwise ordinary things in our homes and museums that mean the most to us, because of their associations with people, places, and events. These things may not have monetary value, but for us are irreplaceable because of the memories they evoke.
Over seven years ago, seeing how historians were driven to save objects in the aftermath of 9/11, I started making the documentary film OBJECTS AND MEMORY. The film has been broadcast nationally in prime time on PBS over the past several months and I'm now sharing what I've learned, through educational presentations. Looking at how we use meaningful objects to navigate through a fragile and chaotic world helps us find balance and perspective. More information about the Objects and Memory Project is at www.objectsandmemory.org (The website is evolving.)
I feel the exact same way whenever I clean out all my childhood boxes. I would keep old rock collections, t-shirts from volunteering, pins and old pencil collections because of all the memories attached to them. It wasn't that much when I was only 10 years old, but now that I'm more than twice that age, that stuff really takes up space.
I found it much easier to let go of these objects once I photograph them. That way, I can atleast look through photos of rocks, pencils and knicknacks and recall memories.
I agree that photographs are a good way to save a memory wihtout guilt. You could designate one box for memories and keep whatever will fit in that box. In the choosing you'll know which are the most important memories you want to take with you through adulthood.
BTW, Barak is quite the good looking guy. We always said when he was little, he'd be breaking hearts all over the place!
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