Forever is nothing we can have

One thing that I've noticed as I get older, is how things don't last. I had this idea, as a kid, that if you hang onto something, you can keep it forever. Well, I learned that forever is nothing we can have, and you can't hang onto anything. 

How long do things last?

Certain materials do seem to last. But everything is slowly disintegrating from the inside out.

That object that you tuck into a box is going to be ravaged by time and there's nothing you can do about it. Those lotions are going to be oil-slicks in the back of your cupboard. Those spices are turning into coloured dust. Those photographs are slowly fading to grey. 

I noted, that while memories do fade as well, they last longer and are much more enjoyable to look back on than crumbling knick-knacks and stained chemises.

As I peer into the drawers and boxes and realise that the things I put in there no longer exist, I exalt in the act of fully enjoying an object in the moment, rather than holding onto it until some indefinitely-never-arriving glowing future.