Memories

Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
                from "Cats"



Today, I took a long walk down memory lane.  I dragged a heavy tote out of the corner of our bedroom to the living room and started going through years of mementos.  Some things I am very glad I kept, others I wondered, "Why?"   

Here are some of things I found in the tote:

• Freshman college beanie
• High school graduation honor award cords worn with our robes
• Cross stitch from high school home economics class that I never got framed
• Match book from the first (and I think only) strip club that my college housemates took me to in Milwaukee
• UTBU playbook from high school with phrases changed to make the play G-rated.
• Letter to Santa Claus that I wrote when I was 8 years old that my second grade teacher got from the Post Office and gave to me when I was in college.
• Valentine to my Daddy that mom made on my behalf when I was six months old.
• Letter from my sister, Romey, that was written on over six feet of toilet paper.

To paraphrase a current commercial...What's in your TOTE?  

There was all my 4-H projects including two years that I chose "Child Care" and wrote reports on my youngest siblings at the time, Ronald and Rachel.  I think I will pass those reports on to them or their kids as some of the report is on their behavior and their likes and dislikes.  It was fun reading.

The majority of the tote was, I swear, every card that Paul and I have given or sent each other.  Our relationship started out long-distance, so for a time we were supporting Hallmark in our card purchases.  In the tote there were a good number of letters too.  OMG!  What lovers won't say to each other.... I blushed just reading them!  

I can smile at the old days

I was beautiful then