I believe there are two types of people who probably do this sort of thing regularly. First, there are the accountants. The meticulous ones. LIkely, when they go on a trip, every receipt, every invoice, every proof of payment is eagerly recorded so they can know, at any time and any place, exactly what the current travel balance and budget outlooks are. I don’t necessarily belong to that type. I belong to the others. The ones who also like to bring such “super-ordinary” receipts home from their travels. To carefully and curiously unfold them at a later time in a quiet moment. To remember moments in certain restaurants, supermarkets, hairdressing salons or simply snack stands – to name just a few. Even dry numbers on receipts often have exciting stories to tell. More than that: these little “memories on thermal paper”, they’re like life itself. You often get them, whether you want to or not. They’re quiet, obligatory travel witnesses. Often assigned with very little importance. They’re small, they crumple easily. And they’re transient, fading away over weeks or years, sometimes slowly, sometimes faster.
In that sense, this blog post is especially significant for me in three ways. First, it’s my attempt to defy this transience with a digital photo, now released into the forever lasting vastness of the internet. Then, these particular three receipts hold a very special meaning for me, as they’re tied in my memory to some exceptionally beautiful moments from about a year ago when I visited Sarah in Rhode Island. Stories like the first time Sarah took me to Galilee. Taking photos together. Listening to our playlist through Sarah’s car radio. And when I was so overwhelmed by everything and everyone there and I went overboard ordering the seafood platter at Champlin’s. Then Sarah’s mysteriously staged trip to Aldi. And lastly, the receipt from Iggy’s. More than enough Doughboys. The first “We’re in the same place!”-picture for our Blog. My first Chowder. Crackers. The Atlantic Ocean at night.
All of these are just fragments of what joyful memories came up in my mind while I was looking through these fading, special travel souvenirs.
And the third reason why this blog post is so special to me? Well, with it I hope that I can finally do the same to Sarah as she did to me so many times ever since I came back from Rhode Island: to stir up some sentimental, quirky, odd, or just beautiful memories in her mind too!
“We have to go back!’ is one of the most iconic quotes from the TV series Lost, which happens to be one of my favorite TV productions. It’s a line that has crossed my mind many times over the past months, but especially yesterday. With a sentimental smile, I look to the future. Happy Halloween to everyone!