Memories

"No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever."

On Saturday I spent a couple hours going through some boxes of things I have saved over the years. I keep pretty much everything, so the items in these boxes were quite varied and not in any kind of chronological order. I found birthday cards, graduation cards (high school and college), Christmas cards, report cards from college, class schedules, and so many other things. One of the neat things was some old letters from friends who I had totally forgotten ever wrote to me. I took the time to reread them all and sent a few notes or comments on MySpace to those friends. I think they enjoyed the reminders of their past as well.

I spent the evening that night with my best friend Angela and was able to go through a box of Angela memories with her. She had been having a hard day and I was glad that God used a little gift I had found for her to bless her and remind her that she was loved. We laughed over old passed notes, got a little sad over some pictures, and tried to remember who we meant by some old code words...who was Rice? We remembered Scurvy and Jordan though. :) It's so nice to be able to look back over years of friendship and see not only how much we've changed, but also the ways we can also be the same silly girls together.

Going through the boxes also reminded me of a lost friendship from college. I remember how close we all were back then and it seems impossible that the friendship ended. There are times when I'd like to get in touch with Kristi again and see if the friendship could be revived, but other times when I just feel like it was a season friendship. Truly important in its time, but not meant to be forever. It makes me a little sad, especially rereading the notes, poems, and cards...but I'm glad that I can look back with fond memories of that time, that friendship and that experience.

Yes, I'm a pack rat and perhaps I shouldn't save all the things that I save...but when I get the chance to look back through all those saved memories I am glad that I took the time to keep it. Some of these saved memories would have been lost forever if I hadn't been so sentimental and decided to keep it. I don't think I could ever be convinced to throw these memories away...they and the people they remind me of are too important to be forgotten.