A stagger down memory lane

I recently entered the dark depths known as the "storage area" in our basement to find something.

Jack had mentioned that he'd like to try out an Easy Bake Oven, and it just so happened that I had one.

Oh, isn't that cute, you think, she saved hers from when she was a kid! Well, not quite....you see, there are a few things I desperately wanted as a kid that I didn't get-a Sit N' Spin, and an Easy Bake Oven, off the top of my head. So Rob bought me the Easy Bake Oven for my 30th birthday. I remember we had friends over and all baked one of the cake mixes together so we could taste it. Yummola. Not so much.

So, I entered said dark depths in search of the oven, and, well, as these things go, encountered many other things along the way.

I don't know about you, but I tend to be a "saver", and so was my mom. I have totes upon totes of stuff from my childhood, both that my mom saved, and later, when I was old enough, that I saved. And once you enter Pandora's box my friend, you are sucked in so deep that you can only emerge 6 hours later, hair disheveled,  parched and gasping for air. Or, at least, that was my experience.

Here's a few things I found:

• Strawberry Shortcake dolls, still in their strawberry home-all smells still intact
• 3rd grade pencil box from school
• 48 or so newspaper copies of any event that I was in the newspaper for (honor rolls, sporting events)
• brownie sash
• $2 bill from my grandpa, still in my fuzzy number "3" piggy bank-when he gave it to me, he laughed and said, "Now don't you ever spend this!". Bet he didn't know I'd take him seriously.
• Newsweek 1-1-01 issue with cover Welcome to the 21st century
• wooden shelves and racecars I made in industrial arts
• a letter home to Mom from Grandma's, in 4th grade, including reports of my brothers regular bowel movements, and tattlings on my sister and the embarrassing things she said in earshot of the Amish whom we'd just given a ride about "not smelling too bad"
• business cards from my first real job out of college
• corsages from my high school proms
• almost all of my report cards from grade school through college
• just about every note that was written in high school. They usually went something like this:

Hey, whaddya up to? I'm in algebra. It's so boring. I really don't have anything to say. What are you up to? Do you like my new pen color? I got it yesterday. I hope I pass the quiz. Well, I really don't have anything to say. Write back soon! LYLAS! and then it was folded all weird into some hieroglyphic pattern that was impossible to recreate once you opened the note. And I saved bucketloads of these notes. And sat and read them for hours. And you know what? I actually felt really sad for teenagers now, because with all of the texting, and emailing, they will not have any of these paper trails to read when they are 37 and sitting in their basement for 6 hours. (Did I say I feel sorry for them, or I feel sorry for myself?)

•  I actually found a takeout menu, from the bar where I celebrated my 21st birthday and my roommate had written down the names of each of the shots I did that night. And I really, honestly, cannot believe that I did not die, nor did any of my acquaintances, on our 21st birthday celebrations. The number of shots we did were staggering, and as a mother now, whoa boy. God was looking out for us then, there is no doubt about it.
• stacks upon stacks of college notebooks. And I wondered, how did I absorb all of that back then? Because honestly, I don't even understand what I was writing down now when I look back at it. We were talking about some heavy stuff, and I can only say prekids my brains capacity must have been at some otherworldly level to understand all of that stuff. Pat on the back kiddo! You were smart once!
• And this last item I will share, I treasured. Remember this?

"It took me like three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip.

It's probably the best drawing I've ever done."

Lookee look, I got me my own drawing too!!!

The inscription on the lower left says "To the one I love, Rachel". Sadly, our  love did not last as I cannot definitively say who this was from. I thought first it was from my boyfriend Dan in 9th grade who was really artistic, but upon further study, this shirt really looks like a rad black/red plaid shirt I wore extensively junior year, so it might have been drawn by Nick. Anyway, it is actually pretty good. Oh, young love gone awry.

Have I inspired you to go diggin' in your old stuff now? Anyone... anyone????