Old Photos, Older Lori

I have been demolishing our basement in a recent purge. This apartment has a frightening amount of storage space. When Kat moved out, we made fun of her ability to fill an entire moving truck--to the point in which her mattress had to be strapped onto the back of the truck--and then we moved into her apartment and immediately filled up every crevice. Oops. Shouldn't have laughed so quickly.

Call it pregnancy, or spring, or dreaming of a different space, but I'm in the mood to purge. We have a sauna (yes, you read that correctly) filled with plastic storage containers of stuff--photo albums, all of Alexandra's clothing from 3 months to present, baby stuff to keep for #2 (car seat, bouncy seat)...A lot of it necessary, but a lot could go.

I have successfully purged all my doctoral binders and articles, and today I went on to purge my photographs and negatives. These photographs were taken during undergrad, mostly during several documentary photography classes at UNC or Duke, with a smattering of fun rolls of parties, folks drunk and smoking, and bands playing. These photo classes eventually landed me my job at the Center for Documentary Studies, landed me one of my best friends, Julia, and landed me two giant plastic bins of work prints, negatives, and slides that I have carted around for the past 12 years.

As I sorted through these images, I was thrown by several things:

*Those kids I photographed 14 or so years ago...they are adults now. REAL adults.
*I am still friends with a lot of folks in those photos, and that makes me happy.
*I am not friends with a lot of folks in those photos, and that makes me sad.
*We all looked A LOT younger then!
*I was really into the dramatic shot and more dramatic photo title. Kinda ridiculous.
*I miss having an artistic outlet...I can't wait to write and defend this dissertation and then I'm going to start sewing.

A few things I couldn't purge and will be filed away until I purge again, but about 95% of it ended in the trash (I already have my faves printed and framed). I don't really feel sad about tossing them at all...Am I a grown up now?