Anonymous wrote:Anybody who keeps them after age 25 either peaked in high school or has hoarder tendencies. Neither is inherently bad. But no I didn’t keep mine.

+1, I've also shredded photos with previous boyfriends in them. I keep one of my HS BF and I at prom but that's it.

None from old boyfriends, but I kept all the cards and letters from my husbands 2 deployments. I don't keep any bday or valentines cards he gives me now.

Pictures? Yes. Letters and any other stuff, No.

Yes.

I like looking back on old stuff like that. I’m a sap in many ways.

Without personal letters and memories world history would be shrouded in even more darkness.

I keep most old letters of substance (not greeting cards or "wish you were here" postcards), photos and journals. Takes up one Rubbermaid bin and a few photo albums. I look through it every 10 years or so. Every time I go through it, I pare it down, removing items that no longer have any personal interest or memory.
I may offer my college journals to my alma mater when I'm old since they provide a pretty detailed view of what it was like to be a student there in the 1980s.

I have pix ofone of my bfs junk. It was glorious

Not sure about letters, but I definitely have stuff from old boyfriends. And I’m not in the least bit embarrassed by any of it. I like to remember good stuff. Pictures, journals, notes, presents. I do have pack rat tendencies, but it’s not hurting anyone.

My husband has met my college bf (who I am still friends with) several times. He is a great guy but we were just looking for different things long term. I actually still wear a sweatshirt he gave me almost 30 years ago now. I had it at the hospital with me when I had cancer surgery and the nurse commented on how sweet it was that I was wearing my husband’s shirt. My husband laughed and said “oh, no - that was her college boyfriend’s and she won’t toss it” He just is amused I still have old clothing like that. It’s comfy and I don’t care what anyone thinks

I have some somewhere. My HS boyfriend and I broke up after graduation and got back together about 2 years later and had gotten pretty serious, talked about getting married. He died in 2010. I had most of our notes and cards saved post HS but now I don’t know if I will get rid of them.

Yeah it's part of my history. I keep stuff from my girl group too it's a good laugh and smile

Anonymous wrote:Yes or no? Regardless if you did not end up marrying them they were still your boyfriend during that moment in time. Nothing will ever change that.

I'm 50, so we had a lot of handwritten and not a lot of digital records. So I have photo albums. I also have some letters, not from boyfriends really, but guys I met on spring break, or at camp, that sort of thing. Those were left at my parents' home and came to me years later. I don't keep them really as a keepsake, but more as a memory of the time when there wasn't email or social media . If you met a cute guy on spring break there might be an occasional phone call but letters were how you kept in touch.

I have tons of old pictures. Some I have thrown out and some I have mailed to my friends - like I have a lot of my best friend and our activities through the years. I mailed the duplicates or ones of just her to her.

I just tossed my prom photo. I showed it to my daughters, explained about how important it was to have shoes dyed to match your dress, and then pitched it. He and I would not be friends as adults; I'm okay with the memories staying in my head instead of keeping photos.

Anonymous wrote:If they're meaningless to you, then why WOULD you keep them? That makes sense to me.

But those of you who ritually burn all mementos from previous relationships in a bonfire because There Can Be Only One and What If My Husband Found Them are weirding me out. Especially those of you who mutually made such a pact with your spouse. Needing to draw that hard of a line is... concerning to me.

And yes, I have a couple of things hanging around-- photos, a card or two. I remember my two HS boyfriends fondly. They're my Facebook friends. It was HS, for goodness' sake.

Perhaps they do not want to look back because if they do look back they will have to admit to themselves that they were much more thinner in those days compared to right now.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but I’m also married to him.

Awwww!

Yes, but I’m also married to him.