Souvenir

Billy Joel wrote:

A picture postcard
A folded stub
A program of the play
File away your photographs
Of your holiday

And your mementos
Will turn to dust
But that's the price you pay
For every year's a souvenir
That slowly fades away

Every year's a souvenir
That slowly fades away

The words are wistful and discouraging, the music delicate and longing. Yet I do not think that Billy stirs up an image of the insubstantial yet oh so significant pieces of our lives only to callously toss them aside in the second stanza. Rather, he acknowledges the inevitable triumph of time over trinkets while giving us an out. Our lives' souvenirs fade slowly and therein lies our opportunity. While the postcard sits carelessly on the corner of our kitchen table... while the stub remains folded inside our wallet... while the program still lies undisturbed at the bottom of our desk drawer... before time has robbed us of our souvenirs, we have our chance.

We can take out our souvenirs and share them with ourselves, share them with each other. In doing so, we transform the postcard, the stub, and the program into indelible memories of the European trip, the baseball game, and the Broadway musical. And by sharing them, these integral moments in our lives survive not only in our own memories and in our souvenirs, but also in the memories of the people we love.

That then, is how I view this blog. It's a chance to share the moments of my life--big and small--with the people I care about and who care about me. Whether it's the people we meet, the food we eat, the games we play, the games we watch, or simply the thoughts we ponder, they'll be here to retell, relive, and remember. Most entries here will be far more concrete than this one, but all are born of this ideal.

The mementos may turn to dust, but the memories persist.