Souvenirs

Sometimes the iconic things in our life cease to be so funny, charming or pleasantly memorable. A photo on the shelf. A username we coined in jest at a certain point in the past, to capture the moment. Some random object we have kept which triggers a memory of a special time and place in our lives or of a special person.

I move on every day. I change. I grow. My take on the world and on the people who fill my small corner of the world has evolved with each new experience and each new revelation. Occasionally I discover that those things and people I hold dear are not exactly what they seem to be or that I no longer feel the same way about the events or situations that created the original memory... that they are a bit less that I originally estimated them to be. When I do, I feel a pang of disappointment and perhaps loss, because my world has been diminished if only by a small degree. The only true constant in life is change and some changes take from us things we treasure. But by now I should no longer be surprised that some of the things I value may lose their luster over time. It is simply a part of life that this will happen to us.

Very soon, I am going to take one of these iconic souvenirs of my life "off the shelf" and put it away, out of sight. Eventually, I will probably just trash it, because it is one of those things which no one else will want. However, I am not quite ready to do that just yet. I am still holding on to the memories of moments past.

You see, no matter how sad or painful something that happened to me in the past appears to be, now that the realities of that situation are clear to me, I cannot forget that there were some wonderful, unforgettable moments also. I still think about those moments, though not so often as in the past. Such moments in time are precious and rare. Well... maybe I will leave this object on the shelf a little while longer. Even bittersweet memories are important.