My mom has my report cards, elementary school notebooks, and some school art, and a poetry book from grade 6. For safe keeping. I move a lot and they don't. She keeps some keepsakes for me - they're sort of both of ours because they're memories for her, too. She's given me things that have a tendency to get misplaced when left in my hands. A bunch of stuff was left in storage. The unexpected happened and I can't bring it everywhere. Someday maybe I'll have a den or home office where I can display some of it. But it always stays packed away with nowhere to put it. That's why my dad didn't want his keepsakes from my grandma's house. He's a movin on kind of guy. He has his memories in his head, but not a lot of need for physical ones that need a place to go. Or, like my stepdad, my ex and other men I know...if it's packed in a box and never used, its considered clutter. Every year or so it gets rummaged through and dwindled down, determined if anything goes into a garage sale. So lots of keepsakes I wish I had were sold. They sold some first addition classic rock albums...for 50 cents or $1 each (theirs but they were in our house and I hoped to inherent them. It didn't occur to them).. That was disappointing. My view-master with the slides, gone for a couple of bucks. That was worth something. They sold it. A few other cool toys from the 70s and early 80s are gone. My cabbage-patch-kid that was a hot item at the time, is gone. I'm not that pragmatic. I do wish I had room to keep some of it and didn't move so much. 10 years ago, I never intended to have life go upside down in 5 years, and couldn't see the future. One ends up making peace with having mental memories instead of material reminders.
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