memorabilia

So I was caught... Lance and I had dinner in Anacortes with my parents last night and somehow it came up that I still have a few boxes of memorabilia and things I saved from high school under the bed and in the closet of their guest room. Lance was appalled because a couple years ago I gave him a really hard time about still having things of his in his parent's house... and I made him clean out the drawers and bring things to our apartment or throw them away. So last night, we loaded up the last of my memories from my golden years in Anacortes... amid my mother's cheers and my dad's chuckles, into our car. Before taking them to the car I had to open up the boxes and look through a couple things. I found my "Bula" hat... which I promptly put on. It was my favorite baseball cap that my dad gave me in early elementary school and I had many adventures in that hat. I found a scrapbook of every soccer article that mentioned my team during my high school career. I have a small collection of Wizard of Oz paraphanilia that everyone felt inclined to give me because I played Dorothy in the our high school production of the play (do you think I could make some money on Craigslist with them? There has got to be some fanatic Wizard of Oz collector out there). I have countless pictures from dances... of course not just mine, but pictures from nearly every person I ever spoke with during my high school years. I also found journals from short term mission trips, my jewerly box from when I was six... my rabbit from when I was a baby. Many certificates and random awards. It is amazing how a couple boxes could hold so many memories.

I started going through the boxes tonight while Lance and I watched the Husky Football game. I was surprised, but somethings are really hard to decide whether to keep or not. Even pictures of friends from high school! I mean really, do I need pictures of other people at Senior Ball?

What do I keep? I'm not sure yet... the one thing I've decided is that I'm going to keep any writing that I did. I found a few notebooks from different grades with random poems and journal entries that I want to keep reading.

One of my favorite things I found amongst the notebooks:
This was from my first year in college:
"I may never play guitar in a coffee shop, but I can sing in the shower. Own an '89 jetta, but I have a nice bike. Wear a diamond necklace, but I have one of my grandmothers rings. Play my violin for someone again, but I can play a mean "Devils Dream". Own cool black shoes, but I'll always have brown ones. Travel to Europe, but I've been to Friday Harbor.
When I grow old... old as in I have three kids old...
Help me to be able to look cute in a short haircut. I know I'll never be as cute as Meg Ryan, but just cute enough to look simple and carefree. Give me patience to plant a garden and understanding when I find fingerprints on the wall. Help me to value old friendships. Teach me to see the value in time, not things. Remind me that I don't need coffee everyday. Help me to teach my children to be bold. Remind me that my value as a person does not depend on my legs, or my clothes, or my children's performances, but rather on my heart. And if I never have children... teach me to love you, God, with my whole being. Help me to see people as your creation... your beloved children. Remind me that you have a plan fo rme and you work all things for your good. Tell me my value doesn't depend on how cute my house is or if I remember people's birthdays. If I have kids, teach me these things anyways."

I'm not sure what prompted me to be thinking so much about having kids... but it is interesting to read over what was on my mind then and compare it to what I've experienced since then. That was 1999.

Funny how some things in us stay there... and other things drift away over time.