Living out of bags

2nd Year at Mount Allison has come and passed. I am now, for the first time, living in Sackville (temporarily) after exams have ended. I'm waiting to go to the French Immersion Program at Uni Sainte-Anne this spring.

Sackville is a lot quieter without most of the students here. I'm living out of three bags in a friend's house until I leave for Nova Scotia in two weeks. I'm going to be living on campus with a few friends next year and finally off campus the year after. Most people move off by third year but there are a few pros and cons to measure and I decided that it's better for me to stay on until I can make a more informed decision about where to live when I move off.

Among my important documents that I moved from a small fireproof safe to one of the three bags that is my life for the summer I found a collection of papers and miscellaneous things that brought back old memories. Things that I'd probably remember if my life "flashes in front of my eyes before I die": cards from people I used to know, am better without, and want to know better, the ticket from my homecoming dance, collectible basketball/hockey cards, childhood photos, an expired calling card, my acceptance letter to the U.S. Honor Society, an old library card, my acceptance letter to Mt. Allison, and the high school awards that got me into University but now collect dust among other things.

It made me reflect not only on why I chose to safeguard those things and not others but what I will take out and add to the box by the time I graduate. It's interesting to think of all the junk we come across in a lifetime and how we give special meaning to just a few things. The most meaningful things are ink and paper but it wouldn't be the same to keep photographs of them or type up all the words on the page.I could throw out all of it and nothing in my life would change but I wouldn't ever do that. In this age of having everything electronic what tangible things do you always have with you? Why?