“Many of us have trouble parting with old clothes, toys, or games from childhood, papers from college, single gloves that have long since lost their mates, and empty perfume bottles still heady with scent. We keep them because they still transmit an aura of pleasure, or importance. Our eyes love to look at them. They haven’t faded into generic oblivion. We refuse to part with them because they keep us whole. They are our history, kept close at hand, available to open up and touch once more.
I keep such objects in a drawer with no name, a drawer filled with oddities, like some old Victorian cabinet of curiosities. The long ago and far away, in time and in space, are all inside that drawer. Some items linger by pure accident, others by sheer tenacity. The drawer exudes an undeniable power even though its contents are not organized. It’s a private place. I go there to reach in and touch the familiar shapes. So reassuring. They’re still there. And so am I.” Inside the Flame
