Childhood in a Box

Welcome back to Taylor Talks!

I believe I mentioned a while ago that my family is moving to Florida in less than six months. Time passes so quickly, and it seems like we just started discussing the possibility of moving, yet we've actually been planning this for two years now.

We have been slowly trying to pack things that we won't need from now until the move, and part of this packing includes going through boxes in our storage unit. We've been renting a storage unit for as long as I can remember, partly because we always need to keep extra beds and furniture handy for whenever a new kid comes to live with us. Anyway, in addition to the extra furniture and whatnot, we keep boxes filled with old school papers from when we were in elementary school. So this week I have been slowly working on going through my old boxes and throwing out whatever I don't need anymore.

Wow, going through those boxes has brought back so many old memories for me. Among the old math packets and spelling tests which I don't need to hold onto anymore, I've found old (horribly drawn) pictures that I created, birthday cards, a few old yearbooks, and some photos. There are more "best friends forever" pledges (to people with whom I haven't had contact in years) than I can count. There are notes that I wrote to my parents or siblings (Dear Mom---next line---my and Dad---next line---dy), and notes that they've written to me. I found an award that my brother created for me (with the help of my mom I'm sure) for being a great big sister, and a memoir that I wrote in fifth grade about his adoption (which, of course, got me a little teary-eyed since he's had no contact with us since the end of December). I was excited to find the scripts and music for my fourth and fifth grade school plays, which I've kept aside to look through, among the programs from chorus, band, and sign language concerts. I also found pictures of former foster siblings, and notes about how cute they were. There was even a hideously scary mask that I made in 2002 that will probably give someone nightmares, but I had to hold onto it to get a good laugh again when we're unpacking.

It is clear that these boxes hold my childhood within them, and I haven't even seen what else lies inside the rest of the boxes yet. I can't believe how many giggles I'm getting out of the papers I'm pulling out, and though it's taking forever to get through each box, I'm so glad that I'm getting to look through these pieces of my elementary school days.

Do you keep boxes filled with your or your children's childhood memories? Have you ever had the opportunity to sit and look through them like this? It's really wonderful to reminisce.

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Thanks!
Taylor

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