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OPINION

Anne of Green Gables once said, “I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

She was right to say such a thing. October can be a beautiful time and confusing too.

One minute the weather is sunny and hot and the next minute you are freezing your buns off outside while your two-year-old daughter shouts, “Higher!” on the swing. She of course is wearing her winter snowsuit and you are of course are inappropriately dressed, but no amount of not-so-subtle bribery can get her off that swing, so you just continue to freeze like an idiot.

I find October a good month for reminiscing, as it isn’t quite snowshoeing weather and there is something wonderful about grabbing a hot drink and snuggling under a blanket with my two little loves, telling stories or sorting through old boxes. 

This week I decided to have a look through an old ‘treasure chest’ of mine, choosing what to continue to keep that my children may be interested in looking at down the road.

Unfortunately I didn’t hold onto any of my Scrunchies, Archie comics or Scratch ’n Sniff stickers. I’m a bit of a de-hoarder as my husband calls me.

Yes I love looking at old movie stubs, concert tickets and posters. (I can’t believe it used to be $5.50 to see a movie on a Tuesday or that I was ever in love with the red Power Ranger), but I find when I spend time thinking about yesterday, I’m not focusing on today.

One of my favourite keepsakes is a box of letters from an old-time friend. Despite a physical separation following primary school, we have managed to keep in contact via letters ever since.

I’m 34 years old this year, and that means we have been writing letters for over 20 years. Not emails or instant messages, although there have been a few of those thrown in over the years, but signed, sealed, delivered letters. Snail mail as the kids say…

It wasn’t always easy. There were at times considerable gaps between letters depending on what was going on in our lives, but we clearly found it important enough to continue writing — we found each other important enough.

From time to time the letters will make an appearance in my house, this October for example, and remind me that although I try to and encourage myself to live now instead of ‘back then,’ it is important to remember the people who helped me to grow.

We move through this life so ridiculously quickly, and we are just as swift to move on from friendships, cut ties with our old lives and forget.

This October I am encouraging myself to reconnect with people and places that remind me of good times and good feelings.

As Anne also said, “Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

News from © iNFOnews, 2017