A wise man said, change is the only constant in this world. My family is a firm believer in that saying. So, even when we didn't want to, circumstances made sure there was some change in our life from time to time. We call it relocation. Humans naturally have nomadic souls. If the urge to explore wasn't a part of our being, this world wouldn't be what it is today. Every aspect of mankind's progress, intellectual, spiritual as well as material owes itself to this force of nature called exploration. The first covenant of exploration is change and the ability to adapt to new circumstances.
Man is also a lazy animal. He loves hoarding onto things in the name of memories and keepsakes, sometimes only to mask his sheer lethargy. Women in particular are pioneers in this field. From that exquisite flea market find to that beautiful blouse bought a decade back, for which we will hopefully find a perfect skirt one day. Have I mentioned the kids' stuff yet? First mitten, first dress, cap, swaddler, book, toy ...oh it just goes on. If it were upto us we could relate one object to every moment of life and open a memory palace. A walk through for ourselves whenever we wanted. That doesn't make us people who are forever living in the past. It just means we love every present moment so much we want it to be etched on those palace walls forever.
To combat this juxtaposition of sorts we humans came up with some thing called spring cleaning. Hundreds of books, blogs, articles are available teaching us the tricks and tips on how to become a human vacuum cleaner. So, we manage to get rid of the first this and that only to replace it with maybe second, third or thirtieth this and that. The memory box lives on!
The real trial begins when these great memories have to fit into miniscule mover's boxes. One, two..thirty, fifty and we realize the physical pain of mental hoarding. Then comes the anguish of that decision to drop those invaluables. Vanishing reels...dump, dump till you can't do it anymore. This is why the Swedish giant IKEA was born! To save us poor souls from this indignant job of erasing memories.
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