What's In the Box?

A few weeks ago, I received an unexpected email from Human Resources. 

 

They had found 4 boxes of stuff with my name on it from 2020.  

 

2020 was the year of the double whammy of the COVID-19 pandemic that sent us all packing to work from home which was followed by notice that my services were no longer required.  

 

Within about a month, there was an exchange of “hostages” where the company delivered a couple of boxes of my stuff and I sent back their computer and other equipment. 

 

By January 2021, I was back with the company albeit in a different capacity.   

 

So I wondered what could possibly still be left that belonged to me from 2020? 

 

I went to the office to peruse the 4 boxes. I fully expected they would contain a lot of old correspondence relating to my old work that I no longer needed and could easily send to be shredded and recycled.  I figured out of 4 boxes, there might be one box of stuff I might want to keep.

 

Not quite.

 

After a couple of hours alone in a conference room, I distilled the 4 boxes down to 3.  

 

1 box was a random collection of office supplies that I did not need. I told the reps in HR this could be used by anyone still working in the office or taken home for use as school supplies for kids. 

 

2 boxes remained of personal stuff.  A variety of certificates and awards for reaching milestones, for achieving certain goals and accomplishments, a lot of stuff celebrating what a great employee I was before they showed me the door in 2020.  

 

I can’t be too snippy about this. I did not remember that I was missing this stuff when they sent over the boxes to my home in 2020. 

But it is odd to me that at one point these things meant a lot to me.  But as I explored the contents of those boxes, I struggled to remember why I thought these things were important to keep. 

And ponder the mystery of how I could've forgotten it all so easily.