Things Left Behind

I have had this trophy for almost twenty-seven years. It came to me as a result of being part of a team that took second place in a slow-pitch softball* tournament, but it's not particularly important to me, really. It has sat mostly in storage for the past fifteen years, kept only because I am the sort to not throw things away. Particularly things which have some personal historical significance.

Over the course of my life, I have saved many such things. I have tickets from concerts from over twenty years ago; writings and drawings from high school; a scrapbook I began putting together in the mid- to late-1960s. I have kept drawings my kids made in the very early years of their lives, not so much for their value to me, but that I imagine a day in which they would like to share something of their childhood with their own children. I guess I like to think of myself as kind of a guardian of their memories. Others, of course, would consider me a pack rat.

I am considering these things now because I am moving, and I am going through almost everything I own as a matter of purging my life of all things I won't need in my new home, or simply won't want to pack (and unpack again).

Along the way, I also found my wedding ring which last occupied my finger over fifteen years ago. Despite that I have no desires to be with the woman to whom I was once married, it remains difficult to toss it into the trash or sell it to a jeweler for the little bit of coin that the silver might be worth.

So, like so many things I have saved in my life that I don't really need, I will continue to hold onto the ring for no reason other than that it once meant something to me. For good or bad, it will remind me of things left behind.

The trophies, on the other hand, will go.



*Softball, for the non-American contingent here at blip, is a variation on baseball.