A peek into my (very distant) past
This is a story of boxes lost and found. Or rather found, because I really didn’t know they were lost!
When we sold our house in Rockwall after our move to Austin in 2015, I found some things we’d forgotten up in our attic when we were checking over the house before closing. They were boxes of things. My mother graciously let me leave them in her attic.
This summer, my nephews were all leaving for college in the fall so Mom and Dad had them come over and clear out their attic entirely. And there were my collection of boxes, which were then deposited at my house.
I’ve been staring at them ever since. Until last week when I finally decided I needed to dive in and see what was to keep and what to throw away.
The first box I opened contained things mostly from my elementary school years! That is quite a long time ago now, folks! It was such fun to sort through things I haven’t looked at in decades. I pulled out some of the photos of me in elementary school because I think my granddaughters will enjoy them. I also pulled out my cheerleading outfit from elementary school, as well as my Bluebird uniform!
They’ll enjoy other things I found in there, too, but those will be for me to bring out and show them—like my elementary school report cards, my “Michigan” pillow I sewed in third grade, my fourth or fifth grade research paper (handwritten in cursive!) about the Battle of Gettysburg, and my ribbon for honorable mention in the ponytail contest for my age group (I was 3!) from the Michigan State Fair!
One of the most wonderful things I found was an envelope full of thank you notes from my third grade classmates to my dad! Apparently, my teacher that year had parents come talk to us about their jobs. The notes are both sweet and hilarious!
I found an autograph book, too. Do you remember those? Mine was received Christmas of 1976. I would have been almost ten. Some pencil entries had faded to almost unreadable, but the entries are funny and sweet. Except for two that were quite poignant. Both my best friend (and next door neighbor) and my sister (two years younger than me) wrote that they hoped we would stop fighting and be better friends. Wow. That will humble you, even all these years later!
I still have several boxes to get through. I wonder what treasures await me there?
Have you ever found a box of things from your distant past? What was the most unique or emotional thing you re-discovered?
