Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The layers of our lives

"Oh, that was a lifetime ago."

I'll admit, when I was little I didn't really understand that statement. But as I've gotten older and moved through several "lifetimes", it has taken on greater meaning. Each phase of my life has involved new locations, new friends, new experiences.

We are cleaning and organizing the house, and that meant going through paperwork that needed to be shredded a long time ago. I got through J's old bills and employment paperwork from about 4 jobs ago, years before he met me.

Then it was time to tackle my stuff. I found (to name a few):
  • My student loan paperwork from college
  • A paper I wrote from the summer of 1991
  • Every receipt for every semester I registered for classes in graduate school
  • Acceptance letters for every job I've had
  • Performance reviews and my training record from my dream job

Even my brothers got in on the act. I found the articles one brother wrote for his college newspaper back in the day. And a picture of my other brother from his high school play.

So now I say, "Oh, that was 4 lifetimes ago," and I really mean it.

No comments: