I save stuff. My office is full of little keepsakes, tchotchkes, trinkets. Birthday, thank-you and Christmas cards are on my walls and stuffed away in drawers.

I am not a collector. I don’t have anything that belongs in a collection or that would qualify, by anybody’s standards, as collectible. All of the things have been given to me.

I have to keep them. To me, there is no other choice. I cannot think how anybody, when given something that has taken that person time, care, and effort could say “thank you” and discard it or put it away, never to be thought of again. It is uncaring, and does not deserve the gesture.

To be honest, I haven’t kept every single gift or card I’ve been given. Some have passed out of my company faster than others. But everything I’ve ever been given I’ve kept for some measure of time, to honor the gift and the person from whom it came. Giving is the most fundamental gesture of love; receiving and absorbing that love is a treasure unto its own.

At times, I have been given awards and other tokens of recognition, too. Those I keep, but not on my walls. They are appreciation for things that I did, not necessarily for the person that I am. I have gotten past being recognized for my efforts or for contributions I’ve made. They don’t really make much difference to me, although it’s nice to be chosen. These awards, too, are expressions of kindness. But I keep close to me the symbols of love given for just being me.

Some of my cards and a few of my gifts have been filed away. I have a couple of boxes that I periodically remove from their shelves to visit my old friends. I remember who gave me the cards and what they looked like. Sometimes I remember where I was. But I can’t always remember the year, and that’s OK. The card or the gift brings the memory back to me, and that’s all that matters, really. As soon as I think of the giver, through their gift they are with me again.

Photos, too, are in front of me. The faces of my family are in my eyes daily. I can see them, at different times in their lives, and remember who they were then. Their hearts, through the reflection in their faces, are ever present.

If you have saved mementos of the past, bring them out. Put them where you can see them. Give them some air, some space to bring the memory back into your spirit. They illustrate parts of your life, and will remind you of the paths you’ve crossed.

They hold such an abundance of love. Take the time to go through every picture, every card, every gift you’ve kept and spread them out. Look at them, each piece, as a representation of a phase in your life that is worthy of memory and has influenced the person you are today.