Like my mother and grandmother before me, I like to collect things.1 I try to keep mostly practical things, but often the stuff I save has more sentimental value than use.
For example, ticket stubs - they have no purpose once a show or event has passed other than to remind me of a time I enjoyed and/or when my kids were small & sweet.2 3
Before I got this shadow box, I tossed ticket stubs into the bottom drawer of a file cart by our front door. Before that, they would pile up on my dresser or in various cute dishes & baskets around the house.4 Before that I carefully attached them to pages in journals or onto random collages.5 The bottom line here is that, in my mind, if I don’t keep the ticket, I will forget about the experience. And in a way, this is true; we can’t possibly retain memories of every event we attended, certainly not every movie we see. But when we have retain a memento - derived from the Latin verb “to remember” - it becomes a talisman transporting us back to that time. As I transferred all of these seemingly unremarkable scraps of paper into their fancy new home, a part of my brain sparked with images: me & my husband - then new to Portland and its parking options - running6 for blocks to Angels in America before they closed the auditorium doors; with my bestie watching7 glorious Alison Moyet on a tiny dark stage; the beloved Ted Baker-bought-in-Vegas dress I wore the first time I saw Leslie Odom Jr.; the looks on our kids’ faces when they discovered we were going to Jim Gaffigan; getting weepy at the Portland Cello Project’s tribute concert to Prince just a few months after his death. And these paper reminders are not just of pictures from these events but also the sense memories attached - sweat steaming from our fancy outfits, the perfumed & perspirating funk of dancing bodies, the silky smoothness of my dress and confidence, the vibrations of unrestrained teenage glee & surprise, and of multi-generational solemn adoration.


Speaking of saving things that might or might not be8 useful, I used old calendar images and magazine pages to decoupage the bland backing of my shadow box. I considered being meta and gluing some of the tickets there instead, but a piece of my psyche panicked. Part of the memory magic is holding a thing, I think, turning it over in your fingers to summon all the senses. It is a particular joy mixed with melancholy. Forgetting then remembering and hoping you don’t forget again, but also looking forward to that feeling when you suddenly recall…
In this world, there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead. ~ Tony Kushner, Angels in America
Considering I write a [mostly] weekly post focusing on things, I guess insert a gentle Duh here.
Or, in the case of some circumstances - surly-but-got-over-it tweens (seeing Super 8 or Cirque du Soleil), obsessed teens (various Star Wars/Trek-related occasions), or near grown-ups about to leave their childhood behind (watching Lion, when my daughter & I first agreed on a Pretend Husband choice in Dev Patel, and going to WSU bowl games where we only saw them briefly between their friend time and marching band duties #NotCryingOverTicketStubs)
Fortunately these times usually overlapped.
Full disclosure: This is still happening; I need more shadow boxes.
Obviously that time was before children and, frankly, having enough money to go to many shows & concerts.
Honestly, I would remember this without the ticket because I despise running.
Also helping the woman standing near us who got overheated and puked on the dance floor
I err on the side of might be, as long as everything fits into some kind of attractive organizer. #VirgoEnergy
Love the shadow box idea! I don’t have too many ticket stubs (or maybe I DO somewhere & I’ll have that joy of remembering) but I have stacks/binders/boxes of ephemera that are supposedly destined for scrapbooks that somehow are never actually materializing. Now maybe I should be rethinking some as art that I can put on my walls!!
I share your sentimental view of ticket stubs and I never EVER regret running across them. Mine are mostly scattered around in various spots--box in bedroom, desk drawer, small tray in kitchen. I love your shadow box idea and I think you've inspired me to find one for this very delightful purpose!