Something to Hold

Recently, I returned to my parent's house, to spend time with them before I leave again and go off to work for the summer. It was nice to be around my family and celebrate my mom for mother's day. I went into my room and found it, not quite the way I left it. My bed was gone, replaced with a futon, I had a coffee table places in the middle of the room and my desk is filled with my dad's paperwork with my computer fluttered with his new files. Things were missing and there were new items in their place. But thats what happens sometimes, the new replaces the old. But as it was time for me to clean out my belongings that I had left there, I noticed things that were very old. Some of these possessions that I've had for years, I have not even used for almost as many years as they have been there. Many are ones that I've be given from people or inherited from others that I accepted with intention to use, but I simply did not get around to it. There are other things that I have kept for memories. I have a series of baseball cards that are all of Ricky Henderson when he was in New York. I'm not even a big fan of baseball, and I hardly know who Mr. Henderson is (besides the time I happened to run into him at Disneyland.) Yet, I still have it in my possession. I'm not really the type of person that would keep anything that I do not use. I am definitely not a hoarder! But I still have quite a few things like this Ricky Henderson collectors item around my room. I realized that I've kept all of these things for a reason. Each of these things hold a special memory to me that I do not want to let go of quite yet.

I began to think about how possessions can be a representation of people when they can no longer be around those who want to remember them. The people are gone for different reasons, job, school, moved, holiday and sometimes unfortunately, death. But in any these situations people leave behind others who can no longer be with them. They are not physically there, which can make things difficult for those who have been left behind. I think that the reason why people have keepsakes is because they are tangible items that can be held when a person the care for is not around to fill the position. There is importance to presence and touch that people may not always realize. Even for those people whose number one love language is not quality time or physical touch, both presence and touch still matter. There is something about those two qualities that allows people to know that others care for them and enjoy them. Thats why people hold these possessions with them, to remember those who can not be next to them any longer. Unable to hold their loved one, they just need something to hold.