Icons = Letters and Photos

As we prepare to move, we have to decide what to keep and what to chuck. Sometimes it’s easy. Like the 30-year-old commentary on the book of Deuteronomy. Seriously, am I ever going to read this stuff again? It was important in my college days, but unless I am having trouble falling asleep, does it have any use in my dotage? So too with that postcard with the writing I can no longer decipher, and the signature is even more squiggly. I don’t even recognise the picture on the front of the postcard, so… yes, into the recycle bin with you, my former friend.

But not all decisions are so straightforward. Some of our stuff is encased and is the tangible symbol of a memory or a person. Letters from folk whom I do remember, together with the happenstance that caused them to write. I hold the piece of paper that they held and wrote on. I sense their joy or loss, and a face and voice come to mind. Maybe even a piece of music.

Some I have had to let go for purely pragmatic reasons, ouchy as this is. I console myself by saying that it was a long time ago. They are now a different person, as I am a different person. Wasn't I fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, and hopefully I was some help to them.

But the photos are the most powerful of all. A visual reminder of an event and/or a person. I choose to keep most of these, for they are like our icons in Church. A window to another place, another dimension, another person, another time.

And if you were moving… what would you keep and what would you chuck?