Thanks to a half day seminar, I finally found time to clean up my closet this afternoon. I have been planning to do this for ages but I simply couldn't get the time to do it. Everytime I open my closet, I keep thinking, I need to do clean up this mess. I need to get some clothes out of the closet to give space to new ones.
I started rummaging through my things and found out that certain objects inside my closet actually represent memories.
A green t-shirt was bought in the US the first time I was there. It was in that store where I saw this person looking at me intently. I looked at him, ready to confront him what the hell he was looking at when I realized I was looking at Beck!
I also pulled out a blue vest that I used during the 1992 Presidential Elections campaign. I looked at it and I instantly remembered all the places I went to that year and all the things I experienced.
Then I found a couple of tickets to SeaWorld San Diego with a drawing of the Atlantis Ride at the front. I remembered that these tickets were the ones we used in 2004 when we went there with our nephews and nieces. I also recalled that I rode the Atlantis ride with my niece who was enjoying the ride and shrieking with glee while I was trying to suppress a cry for help.
There was also a pair of socks which were already yellow with age. They were my soccer socks while I was still in University. These must be the socks I wore when I successfully saved a goal against a player who hasn't missed a goal until that time. I was proud of that moment because everybody was chanting my name after that save.
I also found a couple of concert tickets. These were the tickets to the very first concert I went to. It was, as written in the ticket,an APO concert. I smiled as I looked at them because I saw this concert with friends from school.
As I went through the things I have in my closet, I separated the ones I wanted to dispose of and those that I wanted to keep. I looked back at all the things for disposal and found out that they too tell stories of my past. Throwing them away will erase some part of my past. With a smile, I put them all in a box and placed them on top of my closet. One day I will open the box again and recall the experiences I shared with them.