I've never thought of myself as someone who gets attached to things. Or maybe it is more accurate to say that I didn't think I attached sentimental value to objects. At least not until recently.
A week ago, I was standing in the Río Yauco, upstream of Lago Lucchetti in Puerto Rico, when I noticed that the sole of one of my hiking boots was separating from the rest of the shoe. Normally, that would have been it. The boots were worn out. I would throw them away, buy another pair, and move on.
But standing there in the river, I realized these boots meant more to me than I had expected. I bought them in 2017, when I was getting ready for one of my first real adventures in the U.S., a road trip to the Badlands in South Dakota. I wasn't going alone. Hassan and Amin had signed up for the trip too.
I remember thinking surprisingly hard about whether I should buy those boots. They cost around $100. I had no idea what I was actually buying.
Looking back now, I feel grateful for the places I have had the chance to see. But even more than that, I'm grateful for the people who have been part of those adventures. The friends who were there at the beginning. The people I met along the way. The conversations, wrong turns, long drives, exhausting hikes, and small moments that I probably did not realize at the time would stay with me.
I still don't think I'm someone who gets particularly attached to objects. But maybe, every once in a while, an object stays with you long enough that it stops being just an object.
Sometimes it becomes a way of remembering who you were when you first picked it up, everywhere you went afterward, and how much life happened in between.
Mohsen :)