Omnia Mea Mecum Porto (1010 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.81 on 39 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <> (View user info) at 2006-08-30 16:40:19 EDT
It's been months of reduction. First a houseful into one room, then a roomful into piles. I've sat on the floor passing every item I own through my hands, assessing it for weight, both literal and sentimental, trying to balance an equation of mass against memories. The sheer volume of things was overwhelming at first, a strange sense of relief following each removal, but as time went on the decisions took longer. Ruthless practicality fought sentimentality, with more than one sudden race to the bin to retrieve something I wanted to leave but wasn't quite ready to yet.
As floor space and bank balance grew, the piles gradually got smaller. Keep/donate/throw became store/carry/pack became a suitcase of clothes and 4 small boxes. In them, books, well loved and well read, and twenty-six years of ephemera, worthless to anyone but me.
There's ticket stubs from a music obsessed youth, wristbands from festivals, notes passed in class. A tiny stone from a beach I can't bear to go back to, pictures drawn by old friends and letters from someone, long gone, that I loved more than he'll ever believe. With every passing year, these tiny things, these items of personal inventory, seem smaller, more fragile and more precious, as though the portals back to my past are shrinking with age.
I'd suffer harm before I'd let someone discard them, but hastily calculated prices from freight companies transformed them from little pieces of me into a substantial risk. With a future so dictated by bureaucratic uncertainty, the cost of their passage is a gamble with unknown odds. Memories might act as a blanket, but never a meal.
In five days I'm going to pick up that one suitcase, place my key on the hall table and walk out of this house. And a lifetime of things, the memories that I can hold in my hand, are staying behind.
Because no matter their imagined value, I can't justify their real world cost. Because I may want them but I trust I don't need them. Because I'm hoping the old saying will prove itself right.
All that is mine, I carry with me.
User Reviews
Submitted by Flying_buttmonkey (user info) at 2006-09-13 07:28:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2. I totally identify.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2006-09-13 07:08:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It's been a long time since I read anything you wrote. I forgot how awesome you are.
Submitted by fluffy_love (user info) at 2006-09-04 02:56:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
boo fucking hoo. cant bear to part with some trash. itd really suck if your house burned down wouldnt it?
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2006-09-03 06:50:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuck it, i liked it.
Submitted by Istaros (user info) at 2006-09-03 06:11:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2006-08-30 16:47:40 (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 because I've lost, left, sold, forgotten, trashed more memorable things in my life than I care to remember.
Submitted by The_Yellow_Dart (user info) at 2006-09-02 12:18:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
If only they were "pri" mates.
:/
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-09-02 05:58:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I spent eight hours in the pub yesterday for some farewell drinks and ended the evening crying like a baby on the way home. Fuck those boxes, I want to ship my mates.
: (
Submitted by extacy_red (user info) at 2006-09-01 05:55:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
bitch, please.
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2006-08-31 21:17:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I always travel light. Makes picking up and leaving on a whim much easier. You should come visit me.
Submitted by Razor (user info) at 2006-08-31 11:23:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by pinkshoes (user info) at 2006-08-31 09:53:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Since I know what it is like, I will wish you good luck and more memories.
Submitted by Pentameter (user info) at 2006-08-31 08:35:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm going through the same thing right now...although you expressed it better than I ever could.
Submitted by phuzzygish (user info) at 2006-08-31 05:23:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
asplode
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-08-31 04:48:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2006-08-30 21:11:28 (#)
Ranking: 0
Mecum all over your face.
====
That took 23 more comments than I'd expected. Uber's getting soft.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-08-30 22:29:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2006-08-30 21:11:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Mecum all over your face.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-08-30 21:08:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Of course now I've written this I'm destined to die in a horrible plane crash and then some poor sod will be forced to rummage through those boxes wondering what the fuck I was planning to do with a cardboard condom packet with two big gay dutch men drawn on it.
Thanks for the well wishing and the....uh....child disposal advice. Much appreciated.
Submitted by goferforhire (user info) at 2006-08-30 20:51:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
pretty
Submitted by Sepsis (user info) at 2006-08-30 20:51:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2006-08-30 20:48:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I went with a suitcase, a bag and a guitar. Picked up some personal stuff later, some.
Best thing I ever did!! I remember without missing.
Very well written post.
Goodluck with moving (on)
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-08-30 18:29:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2006-08-30 18:16:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
All that crap will only weigh you down anyway. You're best rid of it all.
Remember; if you get preggers and forget to get an abortion in time you can always give it to L Ron Hubbard.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-08-30 18:05:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I used to have a shitload of stuff too, but I forgot where I put it.
Good luck with everything. . .
Submitted by Soley_Trinity (user info) at 2006-08-30 17:55:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sometimes you have to lighten the load to make leeway for more.
Here's wishing you happiness, health and wealth untold.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-08-30 17:36:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Deciding what should stay and what should go is always difficult.
Good luck on your journey over here.
Submitted by Laser (user info) at 2006-08-30 17:33:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Loved it.
Memories make me cry.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2006-08-30 17:32:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by UnderOathMeal (user info) at 2006-08-30 17:32:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Oops.
A bit of gender confusion there. Apologies.
Submitted by UnderOathMeal (user info) at 2006-08-30 17:31:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"There's ticket stubs from a music obsessed youth ... "
There's = There're
Other than that, nice post. And now, for a post-relevant lyric from one of my songs:
----
A woman takes a look at her past and smiles and laughs
Her kids are fully grown and now all the woman has
Is a trunk of memories and a breeze that blows in the grass
And these were the words I heard before she passed:
"Life's not a destination, it's a journey
But I'm not the kind of man I thought I would be
Excuse me sir or ma'am but could you help me?
I'm tryin to cope with the pain of goin ...
Crazy."
-UOM
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2006-08-30 17:24:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
shoulda just got a relocation allowance then you couldda moved all your cack witcha
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2006-08-30 17:17:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by gank (user info) at 2006-08-30 17:04:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You captured this sentiment perfectly.
I love simplicity. "Things" clutter and stifle.
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2006-08-30 16:55:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
An A* at GCSE for sure!
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2006-08-30 16:54:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Orgasmatron (user info) at 2006-08-30 16:53:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Asplode Post Wednesday
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2006-08-30 16:47:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 because I've lost, left, sold, forgotten, trashed more memorable things in my life than I care to remember.
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2006-08-30 16:46:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
For you, my dear
http://eclectech.co.uk/images/mindcontrol.swf
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2006-08-30 16:43:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Don't forget your tinfoil hat when you move to the states with Bradley
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2006-08-30 16:43:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 cause i like your title.