a few more years shall roll

last night, i had an evening at home for the first time in three weeks.

my house is quiet these days since my roommate is in Africa finishing up a two month medical rotation, but last night was the first time i really had a chance to enjoy the solitude. i spent a good hour, maybe two, looking for my passport. i cannot find that thing! i’m heading to turkey in june and i have to locate it soon. in the process of looking for it, i ended up in piles of old letters, souvenirs from past trips, pictures, concert stubs . . . and i was transformed into a sentimental version of myself. i also wondered–how long should i keep some of these things?

pictures, for example. if i took the time to go through them carefully and just save the few that are really meaningful, put them in an album or two and just pitch the rest, then i wouldn’t end up spending an hour looking through them every time i run into them. but, then i’d also lose the fun of re-discovery that comes every time i do spend that hour.

letters, i think i’m much less likely to destroy. i have some from friends that i’m really not in touch with anymore, from past relationships, from family, from friends who wrote kind notes after my grandmother’s death. all of those i want to save. it seems somehow that the best characteristics of people come out in letters. i read the letters and even a few old emails that i printed out and i really only remember the good times. that doesn’t mean i didn’t have tears in my eyes last night as i remembered my grandmother, my friends, but they were good tears.

and i was glad i was alone.