Libertarian Librarian

To me. Getting closer to 40. Bugrit. Ah well, such is life. For my birthday I got a new wallet-- precisely what I needed and had asked for-- what luck! Of course, to make use of it, I had to transfer all the crap I had accumulated in my old wallet. Quite a trip down memory lane.

Things I kept: pictures of my family (some that seem quite old now, including a picture of Jennifer and me back when we were only engaged, and I still had a mulletesque length of hair in the back. Yikes!), a card I got from the hospital when my son was born (20 inches, 8 lbs. 5 oz.), half of the credit cards I had (the rest were expired ones), my library card, my UW-Parkside ID, my social security card, my Wisconsin Historical Society membership card, a few "club" punch cards for local restaurants, my Milwaukee Zoological Society member card, insurance cards, driver's license and my ticket from Disneyland (for $56 I was keeping something with me, by goom).

Things I jettisoned: Half of my credit cards (the expired ones), an American Bridge Association card showing the .13 points I had won in the one ABA tournament I had entered (kept that thing for 17 years-- no idea why), a Blockbuster Video membership card I hadn't used in at least 5 years, two different Am. Library Assoc. cards (both expired, and I am no longer an ALA member given their increasingly political involvement), expired membership cards to Sam's Club and Gamestop, an old UWP ID, an expired ATT calling card, two "club" punch cards for restaurants in California-- where I haven't lived for over 7 years, and a receipt for a gift I bought my wife two years ago.

Such is the stuff one accumulates during your life. Kind of weird to look back on some of that stuff-- cool, but oddly disconcerting. Life is, in large measure, what happens to us while we're making other plans. Not always a bad thing, quite often a very good thing, but still disconcerting and dizzying to think about where you thought might wind up, where you could've wound up, and where you actually wound up.

Of course, the price for being somewhere else is that you wouldn't be where you are-- that's always the kicker to the "grass is always greener" view of the world.

My point? Don't really have one. Just that it was an interesting meander down memory lane here on my birthday, so I thought I'd share.

Have a good holiday weekend everyone, and remember to honor and thank all the men and women that have given their lives so that you can collect membership cards, and photographs of your family, and all of the other little things in life we all take for granted.

Peace out.

Labels: Family