Do you keep postcards that people send you? Fragments of..

the past..

Am in the process of clearing out a storage unit of stuff -- my goal is to get rid of 95% of the stuff, and am well on me way.

AMong all the travel guidebooks (Boxes and boxes - some more recent than others) that are being donated / sold at Half-Price Books...I've also found postcards and christmas cards people have sent me.

Postcards from co-workers while on business travel, friends on personal travel, church friends (when I used to go to church) on a mission, a postcard from a college girlfriend when she went to Vietnam for the first time (She is/was Vietnamese)....I have not seen these postcards in about 10 years+...because I've either been traveling or living elsewhere...

So...it is probable they will all get tossed...I'm not one to dwell on the past - learn from it yes, not dwell. I just shredded numerous Tae Kwon Do "certificates" saying that I had earned YEllow-Green-Blue belts in 1984/85. One way of saying that "PIECES of PAPER" have no power over me!
Besides...no need for martial arts (Granted, don't think TKD is that useful in "street fight") when you know the way of peace....anyhoo...

My most recent RTW of 4 months (Just back) where I took no photos or video (No camera) has certainly affected my relationship with "memory acquisition / retention."

So...what is your answer?

What I've been meaning to do with my postcards is to create a collage on a tabletop.

I have this piece of furniture that I've had since I was 11-it was (well it is) a desk with a hutch and a light built in. I no longer have the hutch part and I've been searching for a piece of glass to fit on top of it so I can slide the postcards underneath. I'm thinking of making it my computer table, but I feel a coffee table or end table would be more appropriate. But no matter what it'd be a fun way to display them and it could be a good conversation starter.

My postcards are in a box right now in the back of my closet. Good place for them, eh?

I do keep them. I sometimes pull them out to look at them again. Some of those friends have died and it is a great way to remember them and their travels. I suppose you could scan them if you wanted them to take up less room.

The one thing I've been wondering about keeping is old t-shirts with cool designs and words. I have been wondering if I could make something out of them once the shirts become unwearable. A quilt? A big old muffler style scarf? A wall hanging?

I guess I'm just a sentimental type. I used to take no photos when I travel, but now I really enjoy looking at the photos for them memories. Especially since digitized they take up very little room.