What do you do with your past?

July 14th, 2008

Eliza was watching a show this morning and saw a commercial of a girl in a wedding dress. She asked what color my dress was, and I told her I’d show her my wedding pictures later. So, being the child she is, she insisted on seeing them later, so I opened the hope chest and drug stuff out.

We watched the wedding video with the kids, and I was reminded again of all of the things I’d have done differently if I had known then what I do now. I was also struck by how beautiful I was and how gosh-darn skinny Mike was. (And does anyone know where I can have the VHS burned to a DVD?)

And, of course, I started going through the hope chest and looking at the things I’ve kept through the years. I have countless journals, dating back to the early- to mid-80s when I was a teenager. Seriously, lots of journals. I told Mike it was my pre-blogging way of keeping track of things in my life. But blogging does lack the ability to slip a sweet card or a pressed flower between the pages.

I’ve got vinyl records - nothing really valuable… the original Grease soundtrack, darn near every Madonna album made, and a couple of really groovy Disney albums.

I’ve got photos of people whose names I can’t remember, but I also have photos of dear friends that are priceless to me. I’ve got a sweatshirt from my senior year in high school. How I was ever that tiny, I just don’t know. Even in my dreams of being thinner, I don’t dream of anything that thin!

I’ve got scrapbooks from Griff’s first years of school.

And that’s just what I’ve come across thus far! I have to take little breaks or my asthma starts flaring up thanks to all of the dust. But my question is…

Do you keep all of those old journals? Do they affect you now? Are they worth taking up all of that space? Do you just throw them away? Come on… help me out here. Leave a comment. Tell me what you’d do.

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