In my right hand I grabbed first an elastic band that advertised a movie that came out the summer I met one of the most meaningful people of my life. That elastic band on its own was enough to refurnish memories of that entire summer and the effects it had on my life to this point. My life changed drastically from that point on, and had it never occurred, I don't know where I would be today.
I shuffled through each item, stopping for each of them to relive entire days and weeks of my life that went without notice until now. Each object I picked up from the box brought me closer to tears. Some moments were not pleasant to relive, whereas some of the others were more than enough to make me want to smile. As happy or sad each one may have been, I wanted to cry even harder from one to another.
It wasn't that I regret anything from the past I was passing through in my mind. It wasn't that I was unhappy with the way any of them ended, it was simply that these were the defining moments of my life. The moments that stand so far out amongst every second that I have lived. I've lived nearly 18 years, and as I passed through the entire box the sum of all time it shared was no more than merely a year. A year scattered in memories. Not every memory came from the same year. Some memories were only seconds long. Some the events took place over only a few minutes. However, each memory I came upon could be relived for as long as I wanted. They were now eternal in my mind as long as I had something to remind myself of the times I've had.
This was my life, summarized by objects that if anyone else should look at them would see nothing but a useless box of junk. This was who I was and all I've become. I pieced together in cronological order the sequences that have led to present day. I closed my eyes and focused on nothing but the memories I wanted to behold. In no less than twenty seconds of this, I broke down to my knees and burst into a fit of tears.
I couldn't bare to think any longer than I did. Everything I thought about was so sad to me because it's now gone. Nothing but this object and the momories remain of it all. Even the people that made such a difference to me have left for reasons of their own or the haunting forces which drive life as we know it. Each thing was nothing less than what I could remember of it. The pleasant thoughts became sad to me because they were so enjoyable that I would give anything to be in that exact moment again. I would trade everything I had to be right in that exact time just once more. Life has given me its fair share of bleak and hurtful times, and I feel that it's only fair if I should be able to live from this point on in happiness. The only bit of salvation I could grasp from any of these memories is that when they happened and while these people were here, life was good, and those people truly cared.
The End
