When one dies, the heirs sort through the deceased's physical possessions, deciding how to dispose of them. Sometimes there'a bonfire of what the survivors see as useless, although there has to be some reason the deceased hung on to that stuff. Going through someone's possessions after their death is an impromptu review of the life that has ended.
I'm just concluding that kind of life review of my career at Missouri University of Science & Technology. (It was the University of Missouri at Rolla when I came here.) Even though I have given away and traded off many books over the years, there were still more than a dozen sizable boxes in my office. I had two four-drawer filing cabinets and desk full of files and papers of various sorts. (Not to mention oddments of computer cables and several dollar bills I found in envelopes. I have no idea where that money came from.)
I packed eight boxes to go to the university archives. They contain files for courses, files for committees and task forces I worked on, files of department activities, a large amount of correspondence, and various manuscripts that I don't expect to work on again. There were some photographs of me and of a visiting poet or two. I was poetry editor for the journal, Christianity and Literature, from 1975 - 1983. That activity accounts for a lot of the correspondence, and the archives will also include the issues for which I was poetry editor.
I offered books to colleagues, family, and students. Several people took a number of books, or there would be two or three more boxes full of them. I still have some books and desktop items to pick up. Then I will turn in my keys.
All of this sorting and packing was a life review by me of myself. That was unexpected, but I got a view of some important aspects of my life that I hadn't had before. I don't really identify with that man who was known as Eugene Warren until 1988. He seems like a close friend from the past, not me myself. Overall, this process was encouraging. There were some disappointments, but I was already aware of them. What had faded out of memory was the accomplishments. Reviewing them gives me heart as I enter this new phase of my life.
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