Sometimes Sentimental, Sometimes Not

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this on my blog before, but sometimes I'm kind of a schizophrenic soul. For example, I am composed of both sarcasm and sincerity, but the sarcasm wins the day approximately 98% of the time. Give or take 3-ish%.

Anyway, I feel there are two very distinct parts of me that arise at different occasions. Another example: I have both a practical side and a flighty side. The flightiness usually wins because most practical thoughts I have are followed by the thought, "But where would be the fun in that?"

Part of me detests sentimental, ooey-gooey crap. And part of me is, I'll admit it, something of a nostalgic. I know I have said it before, but I'll say it again: I keep every note that people write to me. Also every birthday card. I still have a glittery star from a high school dance . . . at the end of the dance, my date had pulled it down from the ceiling and delivered it with the corny line, "So you can always remember the night we danced in the stars."

It took me years to throw away the program from the first touring Broadway show I ever saw at The Capitol. (The King and I.) Sometimes, when I go home, I pull down the family photo albums and peruse them for hours--sometimes seeing glimpses of my now-self in my past-self, sometimes wondering how the little girl with the pigtails and the silly cheesy grin became the sarcastic academic with the messy bun and--well, let's be honest--the same silly cheesy grin.

Sometimes I try to trace my history through the pictures, wondering what sort of story any outsider would be able to construct if I lined up the photos in chronological order. (I confess: sometimes I look at those pictures and think, "I was a cute kid. What on earth happened when I grew up a little?")

The more nostalgic I find myself, the more the memories reaffirm this to me: People have known me, and people have loved me despite knowing me.

That's a sentiment I can live with.

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This post is part of the Blue-Beta Blog Coordination, a continuing series of content coordinated by theme or motif with posts from Confuzzled of I Keep Wondering, Gromit of The Dancing Newt, Redoubt of Redoubt Redux, Third Mango of Funkadelic Freestylings of Another Sort, Yarjka of Sour Mayonnaise, and Xanthippe of Let’s Save Our Hallmark Moment. This week's theme: 'Sentiments'.