Digital Remains

The other day I was searching for a file on my computer. As I was wading through the many possible pathways I came across many files I could just simply trash. And, trash them I did. The more I could purge from my hard drive the better!

Most of the things I found weren't a surprise to me. A quick Word file here and there with notes I had needed to document at a particular point in time, a cropped picture that wasn't needed anymore; you know, the usual crap. However, when I came across chat logs spanning a time period of the three to four years . . . well, let's just say that got my attention.

This was especially intriguing when you consider the fact that I haven't use the program in question for a good two/three years now. Like hieroglyphics in the Egyptian pyramids, these digital remains told a story that went back to what seems like the beginning of time (or at least in my world) and built a bridge to my present.

So there I was, with a long, long, long list of chat logs holding my history and painting a picture of the past. I considered trying to quantify the number of files that were actually there, but I knew better. (Let's just to say there are many.)

I gazed at the list of contacts with amazement. It was unreal. There were names that I swear were part of a different lifetime. But my proof that it was part of this lifetime stared me straight in the face. It was odd, I have changed computers twice since the last time I used the program, yet they were still with me. Surely they had gotten lost along the way, right!? Apparently not. Apparently when I said to transfer everything on my hard drive to the computer I have now that is what happened. I did a quick check before parting with the old unit, but apparently not an in-depth check. All I cared about back then was that my important documents hadn't gotten lost along the way and making sure certain programs had found there way onto this unit. Oh, and deleting the information from the other computer.

The next decision - what to do with these artifacts of the past. Try to read them all? Dump 'em and forget the past as life is about concentrating on the future? Settled for a compromise? Being the "look back in the rear review mirror" gal that I am, I started reading a few of the conversations. I picked and choose a few different contacts. My emotions and feeling about this were mixed. However, none of those feeling ever entered the world of sadness thankfully. The best way to describe it was a strong sense of amazement. Amazed to see how connections have changed over time. Amazement just knowing where those connections stand now. Amazement leaving me wondering how things got from point a-to-b in a blink of an eye.

Currently, I still have the traces of the past on my computer. It's just been a couple of days since I've started this particular journey. There is a hell of a lot more to read. I'm sure it will be an interesting ride. Whatever the final fate of these files is I know that I won't make the decision in haste. This is not just another random file. This is my history.

Until later . . .