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Rule No. 76 – Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

I was on a plane last night on my way home and after my original idea of having a really awesome nap after two extremely tough weeks being completely thrown aside thanks to my hard of hearing peeps behind me that thought it necessary to use their fists on the tray to make a
point, and they had a LOT of points, while bashing my chair at the same time, i decided what better time to think about this rule instead. Use my time productively.



Then, somewhere between my eyes rolling back in exhaustion and semi consciousness, i looked over to the other row and there was a lady with her wallet on her lap, sorting out her slips, throwing away her bank statements. Brilliant. Seriously though, why would you want to keep them? We all do, just in case we need it for something, but when have you ever really needed them?These days they give you the option if you want to print out the receipt or not. Do yourself and the tree's a favour and just say no. Sorted.


Now love letters. Aaah, love letters. I have a box from when I was younger, covered in pictures of Madge, Wayne's World, Roxette, OMD, Tracy Chapman, Ramones, Billy from Melrose Place and more and this is where I still, to this day, keep my old letters. Letters from friends during class, letters from my cousins, from my best friend, concert ticket stubs and of course love letters. I have some love letters that go back as far as when I was 7 from my first "boyfriend" and a pen with a photo of him in the heart. I have notes from some randoms, and then I also have a notebook full of stories to me while I was away for some time.

Why do I still have these? Cause they awesome, they remind me of fun times and its always great to go back and think of the time and how you felt and have a laugh at how clueless you were. As you get older though, keeping love letters becomes harder. Unless you still with the same guy you were getting love letters from in high school, keeping them becomes a massive decision. The relationships obviously become more serious and you experienced and felt so much more with them. My most recent love letter was from someone i used to know, and at the time, this letter meant the world to me. It was filled with promises of laughter, happiness, travel, love and everything else. A couple months later there was laughing, loving and doing all the things as mentioned in the love letter, except I wasn't the person doing this.

That was a while ago though, and we've both moved on and have found laughter, love and everything else, but what I want to know now is, do i keep this love letter? The rule says you should, but will this kind of letter make you smile and have a giggle in a couple years time like the "will you go out with me, tick the yes or no block" letter?

Do I keep it and hope that one day I can take it out, blow off the dust and think back and say, ah yes, remember that time, so funny. Or do I put it in the bank statement pile?

Comments

Nina said…
Wow Suze, this is a hard one...

I think I'd have to say add it to the Bank Statement pile, purely because you were not the one experiencing all that was promised in the letter.

:)
Johan Harmse said…
Agreed. To the Bank Pile! ;)
Unknown said…
Awesome read! Same goes for photos - you can't ignore your past, it's what made you who you are. Learning curves are there for a reason, you shouldn't hide from them. Love it!
culla said…
hi Suze... quite a taxing decision, especially when your heart is/was involved. i've thrown away a few love letters thinking i would never need them again, and now i regret it! i have found the love of my life, but knowing what it took before him to actually find him is worth keeping!
about those bank statements, i had the liberating experience of trashing mine over the weekend!... but, KEEP THE LOVE LETTERS <3
Anonymous said…
I would definately not throw them away. I had a boyfriend and he made me throw ALL my letters away from Matric - down!
And I often regret it and am angry because I did it.
People also dont make the effort of writing letters anymore, because of BB, email and the likes. So getting a letter is something to treasure.
Someday in the future you can go back to the box and have a good laugh at it, and see how far you have come.
Bron said…
Loved this post! I say keep the love letters :) they might not be from the person who is now in your life and making your heart smile but keep them! Not in your top drawer to see every day but rather in a box at the back of the cupboard. That way on a random day in the future when you come across your box you can have some giggles as well as remember the lessons learnt from past relationships! I'm definitely going to dig up some old letters and put them in a box in the back of the cupboard to treasure in the future :)
meg said…
Hey Suze!!
Your posts make my day!!
So I kinda went through this same question about two months ago, when moving, you have to try fit your life and possessions into as little boxes as possible. While cleaning out my wellies cupboard I came across my tinkerbell suitcase and in there I had saved every letter I have ever received!!

So I started to read through them, I have never laughed sooOO much, it was just amazing to go through all the letters (some love, some from friends). It brought back so many memories I had forgotten I had and made me think of people who at that stage of my life where very important to me. I even found letters from friends who have passes away!!! It made me remember that there have been people who have care/ loved me!!
At the end of my reminiscence adventure I couldn’t bring myself throw a single one of them away!!!
So I say keep the letters because one day all the memories will be good memories!!!!
Suze said…
Thank you everyone, you have all made such interesting and valid points for me to consider. You haven't made it easy for me, but you have definitely helped.

I guess my past is what has made me what i am today so i cant just throw it away. If getting rid of your past was as easy as burning or throwing a letter away, hells bells, wouldn't that be interesting.

Thank you again for the support and hope I can keep you interested and giggling for a long time to come.
Anonymous said…
Save them,,,precious memories...sometimes you get the fairy tale in a very unexpected way.

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