11/29/2025
Why do keepsakes hold both joy and heaviness?
I’ve been thinking about this after helping my mother downsize recently. We opened dusty boxes filled with childhood photos, toys, and long-forgotten souvenirs. Each item tugged forward a memory I hadn’t visited in years, some warm and nostalgic, others filled with sadness.
But alongside that trip down memory lane came something else: a sense of overwhelm. The sheer volume of “stuff” that we had to deal with. The question of what do we do with it all now. And the quiet ache of remembering people, places, and versions of myself that no longer exist in the same way.
It made me realize how easily memorabilia can become both comfort and burden. I suspect that, historically, keepsakes were precious because we had so few of them. Items were passed down through generations, carrying stories and connection. Today, many of us have more belongings than ever and holding onto everything can create emotional clutter as much as physical clutter.
That day, I left with a new intention: to honour the memories without needing to hold onto every object attached to them.
And now I've become more curious…
How do you navigate your own keepsakes?
Do they bring you more joy, more stress, or a mix of both?
(And a present day photo of me, Lori, with my Brownie beanie and Cabbage Patch doll from the 80s!)
