I spent the last two days searching my apartment high and low for an important document. Now, I obtained said document in 2007. And here it is 2014, and I’m just getting around to needing to use it.

I can’t explain to you how lost one flimsy document can get in a two-bedroom apartment – especially since I only keep documents in about 5 different places – but I looked for this damn thing for hours. Hours!

During my archaeological-style dig through portfolios, file folders, binders, and old RPG core rule books, I came across all sorts of papers that I had, at one time, thought worthy of preservation. There were menus from fancy restaurants from dates with old boyfriends; receipts for vacation stays at romantic getaways from long ago. I even found documents and reviews from my old job, along with my termination letter.

Why did I keep any of these things? They weren’t mementos worthy of a scrapbook or any other method of display. They weren’t anything I could save for tax reasons. They didn’t have any real sentimental value – especially the termination letter – so why was I squirreling them away for safe keeping?

I made a decision. My apartment is too small for any of this useless minutia. I don’t need it, and holding on to any of it is just weighing me down. So, I burned it.

It was partly for catharsis, and partly because a lot of the documents had banking and Social Security information on them. Though, it did feel good to watch all those past loves, both relationship and career-related, disappear before my eyes. Now on to make better memories, and hopefully keep it all in “The Cloud.”

I finally found the important document I was looking for. It was locked away in my safe – where all important documents should be. Imagine that.