Sentimental

   Yesterday I began to think about the Christmas holiday and the days of yore. It's the only time I have ever heard that phrase being used to describe the old days. I suppose it is tied to folklore or some contraction of that word. Or maybe it means year. Whatever it means to you is what it means, that's the bottom line on all of that. What I'm writing now could be called prattle. There's a term you don't hear used very often these days, along with blather. I'm just blathering on. But I am trying to get to the old days and the nostalgia associated with that. I am thinking about old ornaments and decorations.

  Each year we have a tendency to add to our decorations and purchase new ornaments. That continues for a number of years until we start to thin that out. That seems to be the normal progression.  As the years pass the sentiment appears to settle into fewer objects. I guess you could say, settling in. It kind of turns into sediment. Sediment isn't usually thought of as a good thing though. Hm, English can be a difficult language to understand. I expect other languages are as equally confusing at times. If asked to explain the difference between sentiment and sediment I'd have to say, sentiment is something you enjoyed, and sediment is what remains. Is it good or bad? Sentiment good, sediment bad. 

  Like everyone else I have some old decorations that have lived in the attic for a number of years now. A few haven't made an appearance in years. You could call them vintage. I did have those figures made with melted plastic chips for a long time. Unfortunately, they became brittle, broke apart and were discarded. I still have my plastic candlesticks though. They stand about three foot tall and have a light inside. Decorated with holly leaves and the greeting NOEL on them they have stood on the porch proudly in years past. Today they sit in the attic, the white plastic fading, the colors rubbed off in places and looking rather forlorn. I considered tossing them but now I'm thinking to revive them. Perhaps I can spruce them up a bit and display them once again. They still contain sentiment, the sediment isn't fully settled. 

  I've mentioned this is past blogs but include it today. I worked for the town of Ridgely in the public works department. One of the services we provided was picking up what was described as rubble. The homeowner could place a pile of rubble, just about anything besides major appliances, and we would take it away. It was always fun, never know what you might find. I admit, I've found a lot of good stuff in that rubble. Sometimes however there would be a pile of rubble that brought sadness. You see working for the town you just naturally got to know people and hear about others. When someone passed away usually their home would be cleaned out by the remaining family. 

 Sometimes some stranger that simply purchased the property would do that. You knew when that was the case. Picking up that rubble I would see old photographs, books, magazines, kitchenware, dishes and general bric-a-bac. All stuff I had a sense had been important to that person. It always made me feel sad seeing that. A lifetime of memories thrown away, discarded as rubble. Seeing Christmas decorations also hit me a bit harder than other things. I imagine the happiness they brought to someone at one time. Now they are cast into the trash pile, just old stuff, the sediment of a lifetime. The sentiment is gone.

  Well, you know what they say, you can't take it with you. My hope is that I do get to take my memories with me. That to me would be everlasting life. Can't be much of a life if you don't remember having it. That's my thought anyway. It's also my thinking if you lose your memory while you're still here, you will regain it later. Yes, you will be restored in the afterlife. So, I get it, I can't take it with me when I'm gone. All the processes of life will erode my memories and what is left is the sediment. That's how sedimentary rocks are formed. It is what is left. Sentiment is the desire to hold on. Sediment is what is left.