The kids took a walk down memory lane

"I always knew looking back on my tears would bring me laughter, but I never knew looking back on my laughter would make me cry." ~ Cat Stevens

I use to save almost everything the kids did.  A pile would form of their school report cards, things they drew, doctor reports from their yearly physicals, all their cards, stories they wrote, concert pamphlets etc.  Then I started boxes for each of them.  Occasionally, when it got out of hand, I would go through them and toss some of their “works of art”.

Yesterday in a cleaning/clear out frenzy I pulled the boxes out into the livingroom to greet the kids when they got home from school.  Their mission, should they wish to accept it (that was not a question) was to go through and decide what they wanted to keep.

 #2 daughter is a senior this year.  Senior…girl…already emotional = tears. So she is going through her box, several times breaking into tears reading cards from people no longer with us and then laughing…moments of doing both at the same time!  In the bottom of the box were her Valentine’s Day cards from preschool!  What a hoot as some of the character’s are not even identifiable by most of today’s preschool….Furby, Pikachu and Blue’s Clues. 

There was her thumb print on a Mother’s Day card .  It has changed a little since then.  

An invitation to tea  on April 16th when they studied the Titantic and each student played a role of one of the passangers.   

She never did make that tea party.

In the primary grades they were required to keep a journal and reading it brings back a ton of memories.  This was her post on February 10, 2003 when she was in 2^nd grade.  

"Today I went to the Doctors to get my heart looked at.  I had a hole in my heart and I had to take pills before I went to the Dentist.  But today they said the holes went away and I don't have to go bake (back) for years."

#2 son who is a junior wrote when he was in first grade that his favorite foods were meat and stuffing

…nothing has changed, they still are!  I am constantly yelling at him to eat a vegetable, followed by "more than one (insert vegetable)" since he thinks eating one kernel of corn is acceptable.   

While acting the part of a reporter for his one teacher he was given the topic of Groundhog’s Day…”Phil Gone Made!” was his title.   

I was a little offended by his kindergarten drawing of yours truly

 

(Yikes!!!!) until I saw his representation of a fish 

(Double Yikes!!!!!!!)  It looks more like an amoeba.   

 He was Alfred Hogg on the Titantic a lookout and was off duty when they hit the iceberg.  

 As part of the exercise he was to write what happened on the Titantic and after he was rescued…"he rowed a life boat, he was rescued and went on to tell his story to whoever would listen." My son is a man of few words! 

 He said he couldn’t believe that his handwriting had not improved in all these years.  Sadly in today’s electronic world reports have to be typed so it is not necessary.  Now cursive is no longer going to be taught and electronic signatures are becoming the norm.  I can look at old recipes and pick out my mother’s, aunts, neighbors and grandmother’s handwriting….makes it more personal than a typed sheet.  Advancing isn't always for the best.

 We even found some stuff that has to be put in the #1’s boxes.  A picture from 20 years ago that was in the Washington Post of #1 daughter feeding goats at a Park Service farm when we lived in Maryland 

and some drawings that #1 son did. 

I also found something of mine.  The Ohio Vocational Interest Survey from December, 1980 while I was a junior.  

 Says I have a 96% rank in “Care for Peop –An”  which means Care for People or Animal defined as “Routine work related to the day-to-day needs of people or animals.  Includes working in a nursing home, hospital, pet store, zoo or animal laboratory.”  AKA a mom on a farm so they got that right!!!

All in all it was a great night, random laughter while reading something someone wrote about them, looking at something they drew and pictures of friends that moved away.  A couple of tears and even a birthday check for #2 son that we never cashed.  Oddly enough #2 son saved more of his things than #2 daughter.  Hopefully we won’t see him on an future episode of hoarders.