slice of life

am wading through and cleaning my room, post-exam (the reason i haven't been blogging in months) and it has its benefits. self-discovery is one. i've found i'm a sentimental nut; there are clothes and books, bits of paper, ticket stubbs, and knickkacks that i've been reluctant to throw or give away simply because they form a little bit of the past, the last remnants of happy times that i now only remember in fragments.

i found this little note, from an old friend:

hello there :)

christmas this year has been a season of mixed emotions for both of us eh? well, life has to go on i guess, i won't say it's been easy coping with the split but i'm happy we're still good friends :) hope you like the simple gift i got you. I have one myself.. you can treat it as a friendship band i suppose, it could also symbolize all the good memories we shared together. merry christmas alana!

~

i miss that friend.

there have been other finds. another note:

for the deserving sweet soul that you are!

that i happened one day to find attached to a snickers chocolate bar dropped into my bag, that signified another significant happening in my life, along with a little green pin shaped into a heart that someone gave me while we were both seated next to each other waiting for a train.

there was the newspaper drawing of me someone gave me when i asked her to write in my 13-year-old autograph book, the post card and letters from the sweetest japanese pen-pal ever, the little coin and five dollar note from Hong Kong a friend brought home from a trip to Disneyland, and the card four friends had all signed, cementing the friendship we'd formed in the 8th grade together. there were the daily post-its someone had thoughtfully written for the time spent apart, and the dried rose petals kept from valentine day's past from friends and more-thans.

~

i doubt i'll start throwing them away now. but i might at least keep them in neat little piles of sentimental slices of life. i'm good at neat little piles.