A Trip Down Memory Lane

Deep Storage

So, I'm working on sorting through my deep storage stuff. I have been working (or not working) on this project for about four weeks now. This is my final push. I have to get it done by Monday, as my friend is coming back to help me decorate before my parents come next Saturday (so excited for them to be here!!!).

I am sorting through every box one at a time. Over the years, I have haphazardly thrown photos in with old cards, craft supplies in with memorabilia, and school notebooks in with my journals. Several weeks ago, I tackled one of the biggies...

I went through all my journals and sorted them in order by date. I know that sounds kind of anal, but since I plan to use them for writing projects in the future, it will serve me in the future to have them in good order.

My Office

My office is filled with boxes, some half-filled and some overflowing. Each category has its own box...craft supplies, homeschooling supplies, Orion's keepsakes, Zara's keepsakes, wedding and anniversary keepsakes...you get the idea.

I've come across some wonderful mementos, like my kids' baby books and photos...lots of photos...and letters exchanged between Eric and me when we were dating...and then the one that pierced my heart and made me sob...a memorial program for my dearest mentor and friend, Queenie Hammond.

You've got to know that this was deep into my deep storage, both literally and figuratively. Who knew that one little piece of paper with a simple statement "I'm not going to die, honey, I'm going to Heaven like a shooting star!" could set off a string of memories and emotions so fresh that it was like yesterday.

Memorial Program

Anyway, some of you understand, because you knew her and you knew her impact on my life. There is no one like Queenie, yet I aspire to love the way she loved and to do all the things she called forth from within me. She was one who could truly inspire greatness within a person just with a look, a touch, or a carefully spoken word. I am so blessed to have been one of her "kids."

And I pray that one day I will have at least half as many "kids" who will feel the same about me as I feel about her when I'm dancing with Jesus on the streets of gold (which, you know, is exactly what she is doing right this minute).

There was one other thing I found which surprised me...an envelope postmarked October 4, 1993 (the fall of the year I graduated high school). It was addressed to me in my own handwriting from Ellensburg High School (my alma mater), and it was still sealed!!!!

Inside was a strange lump of something in the middle. I opened it and was surprised to see little slips of papers with dreams/goals written on them. I was even more surprised to find that I had seen fulfilled at least half of the dreams in my life. There are several, of course, that don't matter to me anymore, and a few that I still hold dear to my heart.

California Driver's License

Here are the things I've accomplished/experienced in life:

• Get my license (yep...did that when I was 17 in Washington, and now I'm also the proud owner of a California driver's license)
• Lose 15 pounds (I did do this a couple of times between graduation and now)
• Find an exercise program I can stick to (the best one for me is a loose one, I've discovered)
• Get to heaven (well on my way there)
• Be as intelligent as my Dad (definitely, though our "intelligence" is sometimes vastly different)
• Marriage (15 years in June)
• Have my own business (have been in business for myself steadily for almost four years)
• Have two kids (check)
• Go to New York (went in 1993, though I hope to return again)
• Become better friends with my mom (she is one of my best friends now)
• Ride an airplane (see note about going to New York in 1993; also been to Florida; would be happy to fly again!)
• Get into driver's ed (yep...did that my senior year of high school)
• Live at my Dad's (lived with him part time my senior year...in an apartment above his business in a very cool old building on Main Street...it was awesome)
• Go to Prom (I went with a video camera as my date...I was asked by someone, but I turned him down (one of only a few regrets I have)...but I think I had more fun than most of the people that went with dates in the long run...still a little sad)
• Finish high school
• Get my A.A./Finish College (I did not actually do this...I went two quarters at community college and then transferred to Central. I did graduate with a B.A.)

Go to Australia

Some of the things I have yet to do:

• Go to Australia
• Become better friends with my Dad
• Have an awesome house (I do have an awesome house, but I would like to design an awesome house with my husband)
• Go to Spain
• Be a psychologist
• Be a professional singer
• Dance professionally
• Write my own lyrics
• Go to Jamaica
• Have a beach house

Plantation House

And here are a few that I don't want to do anymore:

• Be part of Lutheran Youth Encounter (though I do want to do mission work still)
• Meet Julia Roberts (okay, now that I wrote this here, I think I would like to still meet her)
• Live in a plantation house
• Live in the south (too muggy)
• Have my hair down to my butt
• Meet Kiefer Sutherland
• Have a '69 green metallic Mustang
• Win the Lottery (I only ever bought one ticket)

Thanks for taking a trip with me down Memory Lane. Now it's time for me to return to my sorting project.

~Angela