subject: Moving Through Our Early Lives [print this page] More than anything else, the first few years of one's adult life are defined by moving. As we pack up our belongings over and over again, we run the risk of losing or damaging anything we own. Some items, like our old yearbooks, have real sentimental value that we wouldn't want to lose, which is one reason why online yearbooks are becoming increasingly popular.
After we graduate from high school, we go to college or start working. Either way, the first thing most of us are ready to do after tossing our mortar board up in the air is move out of mom and dad's house. If we're university-bound, that means that at the end of the summer we pack up whatever pile of motorized junk we've been able to scrape together enough pennies to buy and head off to school...and a dorm room.
The most important lesson an average university student learns (aside from why not to drink more than our bodies can handle) is that moving is an awful chore that we never, ever want to do again. We move from home into our first dorm room. At the end of nine short months, we move out of that room and back home. Then we move back to school three months later...and into another dorm room. We keep repeating this until we finally get to toss another mortar board into the air.
Then we either get a job and move into our first apartment, or we go on to graduate school...and move into our first apartment. Regardless of where it is or why we're there, there are a few things that almost always define the first place we get on our own. First, we're not alone. Either we have roommates, or we have roaches. Second, we don't have enough space. So we either cram our sardine-can-sized space full to overflowing or we go out and get a storage unit.
And as soon as we can possibly afford it, we move out of that place and into one that's more comfortable. That place might be one we choose because we like it instead of solely because it's the cheapest thing in the classified ads the week we need a place. We might even buy furniture for it that's new.
However, life is the way that life is. Sooner or later, we'll fall in love...or at least we'll fall into a relationship. After a period of dating we'll start spending the night at each other's place. After a little while of that someone will suggest how silly it is to be paying rent at two places when we're staying at one. Before we know it, we'll be packing our junk up again in order to move to a new place that's big enough for both of us and all the stuff we've been shoving in storage facilities.
The place we find together is special, and because finding it is a labor of love, once we move in we want to stay there for a good, long time. But we won't. Either we'll break up and have to move out, or because of accident or intent one of us (usually the girl) will get pregnant. The place that is big enough for all our stuff probably isn't big enough for all our stuff and kids, so it's time to move again.
With all this moving, one could argue that keeping all our old memorabilia is a great way to ensure that we'll stay in shape, since we'll have to lift it over and over. One could also argue (probably more effectively) that it's a compelling reason to think of online yearbooks as a quality alternative to heavy printed volumes.
