In the process of clearing some clutter I took out a big drawer full of letters from the past 30 years. Letters I wrote to my mom and sister from my trip to India when I was 20, letters to my father from Thailand and New York, letters from my mother and sister to me, letters from ex boyfriends and girlfriends that I kept, piles and piles of papers.
I started to read some. I never like revisiting my younger self. I like to leave her behind with the self critical voice that comes with reading these letters.
I put them all into 2 big garbage bags by the door, to take with me to the basement.
That afternoon I spoke with my son. I told him all about those old letters, the boredom I felt reading them and my plan to throw them all out.
Me: "I am throwing them all out this afternoon. There is nothing there to read. All quite boring"
Ido: "Mom, you might feel they are boring. So don't read them, but please don't throw them away. Let me go over them, read them all, and see if I can learn something. There are many things in our history that you don't always share, but these letters might."
I kept the 2 garbage bags full of letters. Ido raised an interesting point. Let him explore.
Do you keep your letters? Memories of the past?
How do you feel about them?
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