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?
2 letters from my cousin in the 60’s while he was in Vietnam on a PT boat. I was around 10 or 12.
Oh wow! What a treasure!
Like you, I’ve recently been diving into boxes of items stored for years. So many treasures and eye-opening finds. In my son’s baby book, discovered the newspaper clipping had his birth announcement right next to the birth announcement of his (later) best friend. I found a letter from my baby brother detailing his vacation to several states, many of which were listed as “where nothing happened.” Ha! In an old college current events journal I had to keep in 1983, I found an entry stating, “Cellular phones are looked to in the near future as being a good investment. The phones are operated in automobiles by the radio/telephone technology. I don’t fully understand them yet, but someday they could be as common as plastic milk cartons.” Ha! I was grieved by correspondence I found in my first year teaching files (a parent requesting extra assignments to save her child’s grade and my response that I could not because I prioritize accountability and fairness – yikes, how harsh!). My guilt led me to send off a long-belated apology, despite no knowledge of whether this woman still has that email address. Thankfully, I saved “teacher evaluations” I gathered from my students each year, and can see that I softened and became a better teacher over time. It has been a blast to pore over these scraps from the past.
Wow! What a peek into your past! I love your foresight on cell phones, and I’m glad you grew as a teacher!
Yes. We are going through my mom’s house now. She passed away January of 2024. We are finding things she saved. She had a cedar chest and there are so many old pictures in it. Brings back a lot of good memories. My husband passed away 3 years ago. It’s so hard to go through things. It was over a year before I ever got rid of his clothes. I still have a lot of his things I can’t get rid of.
I’m so sorry, Brenda. Two big losses and things to go through. I’ve helped my. mom go through my grandparents, aunt, and uncle’s things after they passed. It’s both joyful and hard. Hugs!
Years ago my mother was going through stuff and found my 2nd grade class picture. My husband and I were grade school classmates (didn’t date until after college) and we were sitting next to each other in the picture.
That’s crazy!!!! I love that your mother found that!