Memories in a Box

I'm on a cleaning project. In order to get the Dr. down here with us permanently, we made need to create a more usable home office. Right now our home office is the "room where the stuff we didn't need immediately, and some random computer equipment" is housed. I have a laptop and we have wireless, so I usually connect from the comfort of my room.

I've been organizing it . . . personal paperwork, media, medical texts, you name it. I bought a shredder and will be shredding any old paperwork with personal information on it prior to 2002. But as I get rid of the old, even the boring paperwork, it's bringing up memory after memory . . . most of a life well lived.

• Postcards from when DrChako and I were still dating . . . I think we'd said "I love you" but marriage wasn't even spoken of . . .
• My high school diploma
• Pictures of my brother at age 7 . . . when he still had a full head of hair
• Our first apartment lease together, in Columbus Georgia
• The mortgage paperwork from the first home we owned
• The sale paperwork from the sale of the first home we owned
• The paperwork from the first "luxury" car we bought . . . a used Lexus.
• The sale paperwork from when we sold the Lexus to our friends
• My high school best friend's wedding program . . . where I was a bridesmaid, 20+ years ago, wearing a pink floral tea length dress with crinolines and a large garden hat
• Our high school graduation announcement
• Pictures of my cousin Justin as a toddler - he just had his first baby last month.
• Pictures of old high school friends, including Maile, who to this day I still think is one of the most beautiful women I'd ever known
• Pictures of 3 of the 4 guys I dated while in high school. The only one I don't have a picture of is the only one I am in contact with today. I keep the other three to remind me of why I didn't marry any of them.
• A college report card -straight A's
• A little bluebird charm bracelet from my grandmother when I was a little girl
• A picture of a cake announcing the birth of my first baby

Cleaning is therapeutic in many ways . . . its a fresh start, a way to rid yourself of the burdens of the past. Apparently, its also a way to wander through those life moments and smile, realizing you're pretty happy where you ended up.

Respectfully submitted,

The Wife