Personal Archaeological Footprints
I was digging through a closet full of some of my old things and realized something: there are some memories that are utterly inaccessible to you but by something you own that serves as a sort of mnemonic jump start for your memory.
You find an old box full of art tools and are reminded of an art class you took a decade ago. You find a box and remember that the book you'd developed whole worlds with the book you were writing. They're things you might not stop to think about if something you specifically made wasn't reminding you.
Then something else occurred to me.
When you're old (or older, at least), this footprint will be all that you take with you from the period in which you're currently living, save the memories you're able to recall on command. But think back. Most of us can't recall much of what our schedule was like ten years ago, let alone twenty.
It's important not to be too attached to the past. I'm not romanticizing hoarders or people who are unable to be in the present or look towards the future. I only mean that every now and then it's good to hold your past in your hands and truly ruminate over it.
What footprints are you making now? And how will you judge them ten years from now?
Good words! Those memories those things to which we are tied are indeed precious!
I note this because recently my wife and I sold just about every thing we had and moved on to a 46 ft sailboat. As you could imagine, selling the farm, the house, the furniture was one thing.... but the other stuff; our precious stuff.... what about that?
You are right, and at middle age where my memories don't come so easily, I know holding that thing from my past just might bring back a sweet memory from way back then.... But we've sold, passed on or tossed most of that....
Sure, when we visit out children, some of that will come up and we'll be there, in that moment.
In the mean time, we're headed out to sea for new adventures. Perhaps we'll find some stuff to remember the "good ol' days." Or, just maybe, we'll be too busy living and experiencing the now to even think about them.
Well said. It's important never to be so list on the past that we miss it in the present.
Thanks for reading!