A walk down memory lane

In anticipation of Ian and Sam's visit for an extended amount of time, my mom cleaned out the 3rd bedroom in their house and made it more appropriate for Sam to sleep in.  They got rid of the big desk and bookshelves and bought a sofa sleeper.  The room is more like a den now, rather than an office. 

When cleaning out the room, my mom came across a lot of my stuff, boxed it up and brought it with them in their car.  On Monday evening when they arrived, out came this box and a flood of memories with it.  It was a crazy trip down memory lane.  In this box were 2 baby books my mom filled out from when I was born (neither of them more than 1/2 done), a ton of pictures growing up, mostly from high school, college and trips I had taken. I now have in my possession these huge (think 16x20) framed Olan Mills b/w school pictures.  What in the world am I going to do with that!?!?!  

Also included was a lot of random stuff.  The funniest being a letter I wrote to my mom when my sister, Lori and I was staying with my grandparents (my dad's mom & dad) one summer in 1986.  I wasn't very nice and I am finding the letter hilarious now.  I could scan it and include it below, but I have a feeling that this would start a big fight between Lori and me.  So, I will restrain myself and tell Lori publicly in this blog how much I love her and am so happy we are sisters.  :)   The letter did mention that I just received my learner's permit and neither Papa or Nana was letting me drive.  Apparently my grandfather kept saying he would let me drive tomorrow and then kept moving it to the next day when tomorrow came.  Did he not think I would catch on to that?!?!   I go on to thank my mom for being the only one to let me drive before I was 15.  Huh?!?!  We both got a pretty good laugh out of that.  Because if anyone was letting me be behind the wheel before I was of legal age, it would be my dad, certainly not my mom.  But I guess somewhere along the way, my mom was cool like that.  :)

The coolest thing was the Orlando Sentinel newspaper from June 3, 1983.  It was when my sixth grade class made the font page of the newspaper, above the fold!  It was a small class of only 8 students at The Hebrew Day school and they gave us this test that was designed for public teachers to take in order to be certified to teach.  We all passed the test! 


That's me on the left-hand side, closest to the front.

 My mom and I looked through all the photos, letters, and articles for well over an hour.  It was crazy to see some of the stuff that was saved, not to mention that I found it important enough to even photograph in the first place.  My hair color ranged from every shade of blond, brunette and red. And there were even a few photos from when I changed the color of my eyes using blue contacts.  Photos of every dog we ever had from puppy hood all the way to old age were in this box. And way too many bad photos of me on picture day at school each year when my mom freshly cut my bangs that morning and did a very crooked job.

Some of these photos are probably best left at the bottom of the box allowing them to continue to gather dust.  However, the fun my mom and I had looking through them all was priceless. 

Here's my most favorite picture I found:

I love how happy and goofy my parents look and how shell shocked I look.  This picture was taken in one of those instant photo booths.  I was one month old. 

I am glad my mom brought this box of stuff to me.  I have absolutely no idea where I will be storing it. I'll probably sort through it one more time, scan a few old photos in to post on Facebook, tag everyone in the photos, and relive some of the good old times all over again.  Then I'll find a good sturdy box to store it in, stick it in our shed and find the box again in another 20 years.