I have this red physical therapy band tied around the leg of my coffee table. Last summer and fall I used it for my physical therapy exercises for foot drop.

I haven’t used it for a couple of months. It’s actually literally collecting dust on the floor of my living room.

But I don’t want to untie it or put it away or throw it out. Somehow it still belongs there, tied to leg of my coffee table.

Part of it is the cheapskate in me. I mean the physical therapist gave it to me for free. I’m not just going to toss it. It probably costs, like, a few dollars to buy a pack of several if I bought them in a store. Who has that kind of cash to burn?

I took a fiction writing class once where I asked the teacher how I could come up with story ideas. She told me start with an object. Ever since then I’ve looked for it in books and I’ve looked for it in life.

The red physical therapy band reminds me of a less than great time in my life, a time when I was really scared. I wasn’t happy when I had to wrap that around my foot and flex it, hoping my nerves would heal. But it was part of my routine for almost half a year.

So, why do I keep it? As a souvenir? A trophy for getting through something?

Sort of.

Usually you keep things to remind yourself of a happy time or an achievement.

I keep the red band there and I see it collecting dust and I think, I used that a long time ago. I was obsessed at the time but now it’s over. It’s oddly comforting.