Part of our work involves a storage unit which we have been renting for quite some time. Naturally, when we started thinking about going through the contents of said storage unit, we couldn't find the right key to unlock it. For quite some time we found ourselves driving over to test every stray key we located by design or by accident, and none of them worked. We finally had to ask the owners to cut and replace the lock so that we could begin purging our excess stuff.
On our first visit, we opened a large plastic bin that contained a few loose items along with a shoebox-sized cardboard box. The cardboard box contained several bottles of fragrances, many of which had begun to leak due to extremes of cold and heat. Very close to the leaky box, I spotted this folded piece of paper.
Amazingly, the paper had not been leaked on by the old perfume bottles. I was stunned to find this old piece of schoolwork from the time I was a child living in Chicago, still intact decades later. I unfolded it to find this piece of first-grade artwork, Adam and Eve in Paradise.
You may notice that Eve was originally drawn with very short legs which my younger self simply lengthened. So what if she looks like she has an extra pair of feet? I will freely admit that this antique piece of artwork is not currently slated for destruction. I've never claimed to be an artist, but this connects me to a time in my childhood and so it stays.
Last week we went back to the storage unit to do another quick attack on the contents. I found several paperback books in two different bags. I thought of perhaps donating them right away but decided i might want to reread one or two of these old friends first. In one of the books, I found some photos of our honeymoon, which was a pleasant surprise. As I took a glance at another bag, I saw a book that reminded me of a very difficult time in my life. When Gram was in the waning weeks of her life, I had purchased the book and stayed up reading it and weeping until the wee hours of the morning. I wasn't sure if I could read it again, but decided to take it home and give it a chance.
When I picked up the book, I could see that there was something stuck in between its pages. I opened it to find this photo.
I have very few photos of myself from my childhood, and this is one of my favorites. It was taken on my first day of sixth grade by our next-door neighbor Mr. Phillips. Standing in the Phillips' back yard are the long-legged Katrina, Elizabeth D, who was in the same grade level as the budding Lunatic and lived two doors down in the other direction, and Lisa Phillips, who was one year younger.
Here's what's really special about finding this photo - just a few days before we went to the storage unit I was thinking about this very photo and wishing I knew where to find it. I even wondered if I could contact Mr. and Mrs. Phillips and ask them to print me another copy after all of these years. And there it was, right where I would be most likely to find it.
What I've written tonight may make it sound as though I (or we) aren't making any progress, but this is simply not the case. It's just that we have found hidden treasures during the winnowing process. Just like with wheat, as we have loosened the chaff we have freed the lovely grains of treasures and memories. And these small things will have a treasured spot in our hearts and homes.
Wishing you many happy memories...
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