I am back in Salem. Once again at the task of clearing out the house.
After almost a full month, I have only one room notched on my pistol grip. But it was the big room. My office that had morphed into a sarcophagus of paper and nostaligia.
Monday I started on what should be an easy task. Boxing up the legal files from my decade of private practice. Once boxed, the files will become food for a shredder truck.
Those cabinets are filled with some of the best stories of my life. Some I had completely forgotten until I looked through the files.
Murders. Divorces. Personal injuries. Legal and medical malpractice cases. And thousands of every-day legal problems my clients faced during my 10 years as a legal general practioner.
None of them avalable for public tales -- because everything in those files belongs to the people who came to me with ther issues. Secrets and confidences that will soon belong to an industrial cross-cut shredder.
I was surprised to look down the list of names I represented throughtout the 1980s. I hate to admit it. But I could not remember most of the names. And the faces are mainly just blurs. People who shared some of the most intense moments of their lives are simply erased from my hard drive.
The files did remind me, though, that the work I did was worthwhile. While it was happening, I was the champion of my clients. Using my knowledge to help them work through the American legal system. Often representing clients who "respectable" people would never encounter.
But that part of my life is done. The files are nothing more than snapshots that serve no further purpose.
And, like all of us, no matter how dramatic our moments may be, they will soon shuffle off into oblivion.
Lordy, you are one pack rat.
ReplyDeleteResist the urge to read each file and marvel at your wit and acumen. Move on. The clients already have. You are important, but this isn't
ReplyDeletethe Cotton Presidential Library.
The legal files were retained for ethical reasons. But the time to protect has passed.
ReplyDeleteI am merely checking the files for original documents. It appears I did my due diligence when the files were closed. It is making the re-boxing an easy task.
ReplyDeleteThe shredding company we use would wheel a bin into that office and you could simply lift the files into the bin drawer by drawer. Then they would come in and wheel the bin away.
ReplyDeleteI have a sister like you - she has stacks of magazines, clipped articles, books and STUFF filling rooms!
ReplyDeleteIf it is a great story - change the names to protect the guilty and tell us.
It IS a strange feeling to get rid of a "season of your life". The hardest for me was getting rid of the design boards and renderings. I agonized as I threw each one in the dumpster behind my house.........I do, every now and then, think of all the work!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you making progress.....
It gets easier. Let it go. I had difficulty parting with dozens if not hundreds of little photos from students who gave me momentos of long ago football games, dances, and whatnot. And yeah, I coud not recall hardly a name.
ReplyDeleteThe company we used at work is the same firm I am going to use. They use carts -- but not for one time users like me.
ReplyDeleteI had no choice with the legal files -- initially. It really feels good to get rid of it all.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to write about what I am throwing away makes it easy to toss out each piece.After all, I have lived without any of this stuff for four years.
ReplyDeleteI am sending a box of diplomas and the like to my mother's house today with my brother. If I ever settle in one spot, they can revert to their role as wall decorations.
ReplyDeleteI commend you. It is not an uncomplicated task, mine seems never ending.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the task would be easier if I had simply dumped most of this stuff years ago.
ReplyDeleteEasier said than done.
ReplyDeleteAs far as my past employment goes, my contributions to society have be inconsequential at best, but at least my career choices made it easy for me to walk away and never look back.
ReplyDeleteNot looking back is the trick in life. There is little profit in it.
ReplyDelete