This originally started out as comment on u/LilyChickadee's post about stuff, but I kept rambling, so I thought I'd just make it a post. The poster basically was asking, what's wrong with having stuff they cherish.
Maybe feel free to AMA? If you have any questions?
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At the end of the day, it's a personal choice. Some feel their stuff completes them, some feel it burdens them.
If you like your stuff, keep it. If you don't, then get rid of it.
Don't follow the fads of either keeping stuff, or relinquishing it.
On a personal level, I was trying to live in both worlds. I sold and got rid of just about anything I could, before traveling the world for a few years. I was at an impasse with a few things such as you. Mostly sentimental things. Such as a Rolex my father received from someone when he was in a band traveling the world in the 60's. Love letters from my first girlfriend from when I was a teen, letters from others. Letters to me when I was in basic training. My dogs teeth would be found one by one around the house when I was a kid - he was getting old. I'm a sentimental person, so I kept them in a little film canister. Numerous letters and physical knick knacks that reminded me of good times, bad times, and sad times. Plaques, awards and decorations; uniforms, from my military service, a couple dozen RMO's, going away items...stuff like that. My old passports with stamps from around the world. My fathers passport from when he travelled the world with a band. Countless travel memories I have from around the world. Even stuff from high school. A musical instrument for instance. From around high school, until around my mid-twenties, I used to keep all my movie and concert ticket stubs. Some had the bands autographs. Weezer, Veruca Salt...my first concerts, great memories of meeting them, and nervously-sheepishly ask for their autographs. Tango & Cash, Dumb & Dumber, Independence Day...ticket stubs that reminded me of seeing these movies with friends. Good times - great to look back on. Every license plate I've had, for every car I've ever owned. Comic books from my teenage years...all my Todd McFarlane comics, Infinity War...Iron Man comics (always was my favorite hero!). I went to Time Square for 1999 and 2000, for New Years. I had a couple handfuls of ticker tape, and confetti, that fell from the sky...news papers from 1 Jan 2000. I'm getting a bit sentimental even now, and it makes me ache a bit. But I lost it all.
While in the military, stateside and abroad, I was always intending to make some scrap books. You know? And sort of coalesce all this stuff into solid memories I can decorate a house with. While in the military and deployed in 2003, we got some care packages, and there were drawings from children of all ages, and they were inspirational and funny, so I kept a bunch of them. Kids really can't draw for shit, but I love the effort! Heck if you're in your 20's, and you sent a care package to the war with drawings in it, there's a tiny possibility that maybe I had it. haha I carted much of it around the US and Europe in various places I've lived, and was stationed. Going through it with girlfriends at the time. Laughing about some stuff...them not being too fond of some of the stuff that I kept from prior relationships. I'd say, "I'm just sentimental!" haha Not an asshole. lol
On the negative side of things, I had countless paperwork, and military records, with private information on them. Social security cards, my birth certificate, etc. Oh, and two relatively brand new pieces of exercise equipment. lol
So...I was traveling around Asia a few years, and I had all my bills on autopay. In the beginning I'd religiously check and make sure things were going smoothly, making sure payments were being made, etc. Eventually after almost a year and a half of nonstop travel, I slowly stopped checking the email I used for bills...and even barely checked my regular email. Because chat apps! lol
Well, I had these items in a Public Storage locker. And basically, somewhere along the line, there was a problem with payment, they tried emailing me for months, and eventually auctioned off the locker. Yup. The memories of my life were just auctioned off to the highest bidder. Obviously on an endless trip, I didn't bother maintaining a Stateside phone number.
I returned to the States in the fall to care for a family member at their home. I was in no rush to go check my storage locker, as I thought I'd be getting back on the road again. One day, I wanted to check for something that would've been in it. Well, my lock key...that I dragged all over Asia, and constantly worried about losing, didn't even fit the lock on the locker. I go to the front desk, and inquire. And they all look at me, as if saying, "ooooh....it's hiiiiiiiim!". They proceeded to tell me how they tried numerous times to contact me, and basically, the locker was auctioned off relatively recently - just TWO MONTHS prior. I missed saving the memories of my lifespan, by a mere two months.
I guess when something is auctioned like that, it's requested that personal items are returned. All the purchaser returned was one box of photos. Fair play to him. I mean, it definitely contained WAY more private information, but oh well. At least I have one box of pics. I'm thankful for that. I gave them my NEW stateside phone number, and asked if they could contact him, and let him know I was willing to try repurchase anything of my belongings he had left. I never heard from him. :(
So, what was the point of all this? I'm just trying to say that despite how much this stuff meant to me. It was just stuff. I was going on with my life - living it, and accumulating MORE stuff along the way, with the intention of showcasing/cherishing it *someday*.
It sucks to lose itall, but at the same time, it's as if a huge burden I didn't even know I had, was lifted from me. While, I'd still like to have most of it back, at the end of the day, *WHEN* I travel around the world again, it's going to be in storage, at a similar place - or likely a friends this time, again! If I had it all showcased in scrapbooks, and around my house, I'd have to pack it all up, and move it all to my new home.
I loved that stuff. I loved my childhood dog. I cherished even his teeth popping out around the house. He passed away shortly after I had just joined the military, and I always feel guilty that I wasn't there for him in the end. He was like my furry little brother from when I was about 5 until I was 19. Anyways, I would often joke to friends, that I was going to use the teeth to clone him. Deep down, unfortunately, I know it wouldn't be my childhood dog. Just a dog that looked like him. I also cherished the Rolex of my father who passed away. I always saw it growing up, and when he passed, of course I snagged it. lol But, I'm not even a Rolex watch wearing kinda person. I don't know much at all about Rolex models, but it didn't look to be anything flashy, or the top range or whatever. I don't miss it cuz it was a an expensive Rolex, I miss it because it reminded me of my father.
I'm still friends with many of my exes - we'd occasionally laugh at our old 'love letter cringe' that we wrote each other.
All of it was nice...meaningful stuff to me. Priceless mementos. haha I'm sure the purchaser of the storage unit auction felt he just bought a storage unit of garbage. haha
All this stuff was on a level of something like, "When I organize this stuff *someday*...". But the whole time, that 'someday' is always in the future, because I want to continue doing things that create memories. If I could get all this stuff back today, I would. But strangely, at the same time, I don't miss it. I didn't need any of this stuff for my daily living AT ALL. It was just stuff in a box somewhere. This incident just *forced* me to let it all go. If that auction winner is reading this, if you recognize any of the items I described, dm me! Let's talk. It's ok if you sold off stuff, but let me know whatever you still have. Hopefully you're a procrastinator like me, and haven't gotten around to trashing it all yet! haha If I did get some of it back...the process of *collecting* would simply just start again. At the same time, the loss of this stuff is also a gift. When would I actually "enjoy" all of it? When I'm tired of traveling and meeting people from all over the world, I can finally "settle down", and decorate my house with this lifetime of accumulated stuff? Whenever I moved somewhere, even though I believed I cherished it all, it was like bringing around an anchor.
I worry more about the privacy information lost, and identity theft. I watch my credit religiously now. As I've lost my Social Security card, and birth certificate. I still have to replace those. lol
I feel like this experience has opened up the rest of my life to more possibilities. It's hard for me to explain. Like, I always felt that wherever I go, whatever I do, if it's an extended period of time, I'd have to go and get all my stuff. haha
I don't regret this happening at all. I feel I've grown into a better person, and have learned from it.
I forgot to add - I also happen to be a serial picture snapper of the randomest things. So I have a pictures of some of my belongings after I boxed them up, some pics of paperwork, and right before I closed and locked the storage unit. I'll attach the latter.
Feel free to AMA about this whole incident! :)
**side pack-rat note**
In the mid-80's, I was a kid at a Ponderosa in or around, Stroudsburg/Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania with my family. I went to the bathroom, and on the counter, I saw a class ring on the counter. I was a bit of a clepto back then, and I simply put it in my pocket, and carried on with my life. Eventually, I was like, '...it would be cool to return it to the owner somehow, someday', and it henceforth it was inducted and joined my stuff for the foreseeable future.
Much later, in the late 2000's or early 2010's (I forget which time it happened when I was home from traveling), I was sitting around bored, and idly, thumbing through my things - as the only thing to do with your crap, when you have a lot of crap - I came across the ring. I decided to make the effort, and started searching online. The class ring had the school, and the name of the owner, so it wasn't too hard to find a contact. They reached out to him, he reached out to me with an address, and basically I was able to return his class ring to him 20-something years later.
I think it's kinda funny that he thought he lost this ring when he was younger - something he loooong forgot about, then suddenly, this innocuous item he likely long since forgot about, is returned to him decades later. The time in-between? His ring had travelled all over the continental United States - while I moved around in my life, as well as spending a few years in the U.K., and a few years in Ireland! I wish I could've seen his face when he was contacted, or when he opened the package when I returned it to him. haha Anyways, who knows where your treasures are!
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 08:07PM by JustDoctor http://bit.ly/2UOUFvP
