My keychain broke...

Such a sad, sad day, and an even more bizarre attachment for one to have. My keychain did, in fact, break, and it's leaving me feeling rather lost at the moment. There's actually nothing special or alarming about this particular keychain. There isn't even a memorable story or any significance associated with how I acquired it. But the truth is, I've had this keychain for a very, VERY long time.

I got this keychain when I was in college. Like I said, there isn't really a memorable story for how it ended up in my hands, just that I wasn't the first owner, and from the picture you'll see that it's not even a keychain - it's just a bangled bracelet attached to a keyring. I've used this keychain to carry my keys since 1995 - I was shocked when I did the math and realized that was now 17 years ago!

This bad boy has moved with me and held the keys for 16 different residences (and yes, all mine) in seven different states and two different countries. It has held the keys for eight different cars and three different bike locks. This is providing an interesting picture into my life. Can we say, "unstable", people? Geesh! When you live a life that is continuously changing, I suppose having a few constants is never a bad thing, and is probably more of a necessity. This keychain provided that to me in strange way, giving me a constant familiarity when I grabbed keys to that new residence. It gave me some sort of reassurance that I am actually able to hold onto some things despite the constant change in my life.

Just for fun, I decided the other day to count the number of times I've moved in my life. Have you ever done this? From what I've told you here, you can imagine what the numbers look like on my end. Nothing to brag about, but the answer to this question seems insanely crazy to me. According to both my memory and my mom's, I have moved no less than 32 times in my 37 years. Holy bananas! Some moves were rather insignificant like moving from one apartment to another during college or law school, and some were definitely drastic and life-changing like my move from California to Vermont or our big move last summer from Virginia to Germany.

My hardest move was definitely when I went to law school. I left a great job that I just happened to be pretty darn good at, and took off - literally across the country from California to Vermont - to pursue my dream of getting a law degree. Looking back, California was the most stable I had been in my life having lived in one place and stayed with one job for over four years. There for awhile, I really thought I might never leave. Turns out that move to Vermont ended up being one of the best decisions of my life and without a doubt, one of the most rewarding experiences.

So, what does this mean now that my keychain is broken? A whole lot of nothing, most likely. I'm not going to try to fix the darn thing either. I'm thinking instead it might be time for a change. Lord knows I should be used to a little change by now, don't you think?

Do you own anything small or otherwise that provides a peek into facets of your life? I am definitely craving a little stability in my life. One of these days, Big R and I will own a beautiful house on a big piece of property in Vermont. Until then, we'll just keep on keeping on :)