Saturday, November 14, 2009

Now That's What I'm Talking About: Mementos!


Evidently, the wonderful, assorted, poignant, funny and tragic offerings that people leave at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC are being preserved, catalogued, and cared for. I am so delighted about this!

There is power in objects, power that evokes memory, and memory makes "kings and queens of us all." That's why so many of us have trouble throwing away little outfits our kids wore, that old wedding bouquet, the notes from our BFF in high school.

Over the years, I have culled most of this stuff, but it still fills a few boxes. I have some drawings and some writing from each child's school days, the newspapers from when Princess Diana died, and other trinkets precious only to me. If I don't toss them out, it will be someone else's job after I am gone, and I don't love the idea of someone having to sift through my flotsam and jetsam and clean up after me.



But today's CNN program about the Vietnam mementos gave me a new idea! Maybe someday I will organize some of them into a little museum of me, get rid of the rest, and leave it for whoever wants to know.

If you had to choose six things to keep from your memento drawer/box/suitcase/pile. what would they be?

Here's the clip: