Did everything just taste purple?

Tonight, while searching for a gift in my room, I came across the key that I had been looking for for the past few months. It's a key that opens a keepsake box that I've had since my senior year in high school. I was looking for it a few months ago because there were some things in the box that I desperately wanted to get rid of. Although, looking back, I don't think that was the right time. I don't think I was truly in a place to deal with what it entailed. Over the past few months I've really been thinking about my past and the things that happened way back when. But I've been looking at these things differently. I think they were necessary for me to become the person I am today. I am speaking of my worst relationship, for those of you who know the story--or at least some of it. I think it makes sense to rework different aspects of the situation in my head. The more I think about it, the less I hate the person. I'm not saying that I could sit down and have dinner with him and catch up on old times, but I don't like to empower him by letting him "control" part of me---my emotions. I don't want to say that I don't care either. I do care because that was a part of me. I think that hating this person allows me to not move forward. Hanging on to what is in the past gets me nowhere...and keeps me from seeing a lot of good things. I won't forget any of it, how could I, right? But it is time to move on...and so...when I unlocked the box, I found a lot of the past in it. It was still kind of hard, but I got rid of so much stuff that reminded me of then and took me back to, yes, some of the good times. But with that, I also remembered the worst of it. The box still holds a few things, but not that part of my life. It's gone. I won't open the box again and be flooded with thoughts or feelings about what happened during that time. I had tried once before to throw it all out, but wasn't able to. I feel good about this. I read through some of it, wow. It was just something I had to do. Perfect timing. I just graduated and now I can put that behind me. It's a good time to begin. Well, 'til next time...