As we prepared for our recent move, it was interesting to see what we had kept around, and also interesting to realize what we no longer valued and decided to get rid of.

I found a great number of keys around the house.  This was strange to me.  After all, the most important keys we needed were bundled together on a key ring or labeled and hanging from a small key rack in the kitchen. The keys I found were not recognizable, nor were they important enough to even be remembered.  

No, these keys were just kept around because we clearly weren’t sure what to do with them. Were we worried we’d find something that was locked or discover something that couldn’t be used until one of these keys was pulled out? I’m not sure.

Nevertheless, I heaped all the keys I found into a pile and Michelle and I stared at them for a bit.  We rifled through them. We looked at little initials we’d written on some of them with Sharpie markers. We wondered what the initials stood for. We laughed at old keys that looked like they might have fit a door in a house we used to live in.  

Why were we keeping them?

We found a couple of keys to cars that had long been sold. There were small, interesting keys that may have opened a hope chest or someone’s suitcase. But after careful inspection, we found we could get into all of our suitcases. The two hope chests in the house had locks that had been dismantled to avoid any kids getting stuck in one during a wayward game of hide and seek.

For a while, we wondered if some antique dealer might want some of them, maybe to make into some avant garde wind chime. There were keys of various shades, shapes and shine. Some were unique and some were copies we’d had made at the hardware store.

There were keys of former neighbors who’d asked us to watch their pets or check on their house. We found keys for doors that had been replaced during renovations. There were keys we were sure we’d never seen before, and we wondered why we even had them in this collection.

Still, we went down memory lane for a brief drive. We remembered cars we thought were the “bees knees” or ones we almost missed a payment on. There were cars where we’d strapped little cherub-faced babies into car seats or picked up sweaty boys from football practice. We remembered cars that had taken us on endless trips to lots of adventures. Car rides full of laughter, quiet with all passengers but the driver sleeping, and rides where we sang and “seat danced” to songs on the radio.

There were keys to doors where we’d crept into the house during naps or left quietly on an early morning outing. There were keys to doors that had been slammed too hard or knocked on loudly. Some had opened doors that had been propped open for new things to come in or old things to go out.  We’d used these keys to make sure the homes we lived in were as safe as possible. Some had been put under mats or hidden in a secret place in the garage.  

Why did we keep them?

After allowing ourselves the time to make an educated decision to get rid of them, we did. They weren’t needed anymore. As we said, the important keys we used every day or often were in a place we could easily find. This pile of keys, mostly unidentifiable, was useless.

However, it was a little bittersweet to think of all the wealth these keys represented. Not material wealth, of course. But people, destinations, possessions kept safe. Homes, adventures, jobs.

Sure, we haven’t lived as many years as some people, but this pile of keys still represents a lifetime so far – an accumulation of so much.  Of stories, cherished memories.

We kept them because there may have been a chance we’d need them again. That’s why they were saved. Right?