Dear Anna,

I’ve been dating my girlfriend for a little over a year, and for the most part things are great. We’re both pretty sentimental people, but in different ways. I save things — not in a hoarder way, but I’ve kept shoeboxes of old letters, birthday cards and printed photos from past relationships going back to college. I don’t look at them often; maybe once or twice a year I’ll flip through them out of nostalgia, the same way someone might reread an old journal or yearbook. It doesn’t make me miss the people or want anything back. If anything, it reminds me how much I’ve grown and how different my life is now.

My girlfriend recently found one of the boxes while we were reorganizing the closet, and she did not take it well. She asked why I “need” to keep any of this, especially s

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