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Ten Years of Email

February 2, 2008

I have ten years of email. Am I a freak?

I’m not one of those people who get new computers every two years. I get a new one when my old one is really on its last legs, because transferring all my software and setting up all my applications takes days and days. So, in the past ten years, I’ve had a laptop and two desktops. The one I’m using right now is four years old.

For reasons I can’t really fathom, I like to save all my email. Well, most of it, anyway. I think I might need it. And I have referred back on occasion. I’m pretty organized when it comes to my email. I have a subfolder under my inbox for each client, and I have a zillion message rules set up to route incoming mail to the right box. That way, I have a record of all communications with clients for easy access. However, since I have currently have 1356 messages in my Inbox going back to the year 2000, perhaps I’m not as organized as I think I am. The older ones are just carry-overs from old computers. I really should archive those. Or get rid of them. But for some reason, I think that the second I delete them, I’ll regret it.

Those emails are kind of like a weird diary, capturing things I did that day. Some of the emails are from people with whom I’ve lost touch, and I’m sure their email addresses have changed. Why do I keep those? And some are from friends and loved ones who have died. I lost my Dad last year, and somehow, looking at his emails (which were usually just Excel spreadsheets from our little family stock-investing club with “Love, Dad” at the end) are comforting.

You’d think I’d save all my paper stuff, too. But I don’t. I throw away bank statements, all my bills, and most of the snail-mail I get. So what is it with the ten years worth of email? Am I the only one, or are there others out there like me?

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Comments

1millie | February 2, 2008

Yes, you’re a freak.

2Waldo Jaquith | February 3, 2008

Me too. Actually, I have 12 years. :) I really don’t know what good it’s doing me.

But I have finally learned to erase e-mail that I don’t need, when it comes in. Like when people respond, saying just “thanks” or “OK”—that goes in the bit bucket. Mailing list digests, too. But not the Neon Guild digests. :)

3Jackie | February 4, 2008

Even tho I’m a librarian—I totally love cleaning up and throwing stuff out. You could treat the emails the way you keep tax info—and just keep 5 years.....

4Cricket | February 9, 2008

I agree with Millie.

5PJ | February 11, 2008

It may not be that deep..... With modern virtual storage capacity and the fact that your e-mails are just an orientation on a silicon chip somewhere it’s not like your are filling real space somewhere. Archiving e-mails doesn’t take any “real” desk or file space and apparently all are well organized. What’s the problem? It’s not like filling your basement with boxes of letters and old magazines. You don’t have to dust em off or haul them to the recycling center every few years

As for those little reminders of friends and loved ones departed, ... if we are anything we are generally fond of our good memories. How those memories are arranged in our lives is determined by each of us according to our own personal needs and capabilities.

In many ways I suspect seeing “Love, Dad” may be a bit like a virtual hug..... or a small spark which lights up memories and allows us to revisit past events significant and even peripheral but always parts of the complex puzzle we call life. {:>)}--

6Ernie | March 28, 2008

Yes, someone else read this. Say “Hi” to Waldo for me, next time you see (?#%$?) him. He’s an old LEC alumnus and one of my son, Patrick’s best friends. His wife, Amber is very cool as well!