I'm not a hard-core pack rat, but I do exhibit certain tendencies to save more than purge. A good example of this are my various email inboxes. How happy was I when Google made its foray into the online mail market with Gmail and told us that we could have UNLIMITED email storage; we would never have to delete a message. Google, I loves ya, babe.
This inability to throw away things also infects my offline life. 10 years ago, I went on a Rotary Exchange for a year to Denmark. It was the best year of my life. Sure, there were some difficult and stressful times, mostly in the beginning, but those fade away. I learned a lot about another country and culture. I learned a lot about my own country and culture. Most importantly, I learned a lot about myself. "To find yourself, you must first lose yourself." (Sadly, that saying was used to sell cars for Mazda a few years back - I'm not sure what their source is)
Aaanyway, my excursion has left me with a couple boxes of shtuff from Denmark that I just can't part with. I have exchange student contact cards for people from 10 years ago and I continue to keep them. I have piles of letters and cards...and not just letters I received while I was there: letters I received from those I left behind when I came back to Canada. Reading some of the letters is hilarious. If I hadn't been so stupid and been able to pick up the signs, I could have had a relationship while I was there. You idiot, younger Colin!
I don't think I'll ever get rid of those boxes. Too many good memories. My potential future wife will have to take both me and my boxes...but no other baggage, I promise :).
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