Re: Mementos
Well, it can depend upon the intentions behind why that memento is kept. There are people who keep a wrinkled Valentine’s Day card made of construction paper from their 3rd grade crush. Or they’ll keep a letter written by a secret or otherwise known admirer that they didn’t feel the same way about. These things are flattering, they make you feel special, and that’s ONE reason why they may be kept. You can’t compare a current and stable relationship with these two past examples. Another reason why people keep mementos is because it’s reminiscent of a special time. Something you look at once in a blue moon, and it brings a smile to your face.
The interesting thing about these mementos is that people usually don’t think about them. Usually people are not consumed by thoughts of that memento. After several years, you might stumble upon a box containing various mementos while cleaning your attic or something. So you sit down and reminisce for a few minutes and those few minutes don’t compare to the many hours and days and years that you spend with your current SO. Or maybe out of nowhere, years later, something triggers the memory of that person. Doesn’t necessarily mean that you were thinking of that person the whole time. If we are able to remember unpleasant things from our past, if we’re able to remember trivial details in life, then it’s not unusual for us to remember good times as well.
Now, there are also people who keep mementos because they prove something about their capabilities. For example, a person keeps mementos as a record of how many girls they’ve scored. Or as proof of their flirting capabilities, or as a collection proving how hot and mack-worthy they were. It’s messed up, but it can happen.
I think that when your ex is on your mind so many times during the day even when the memento is nowhere in sight, when you don’t even need a memento to think about him/her…then you haven’t moved on from that person.