The time had come. I had successfully avoided "them" for nearly three weeks. I considered fleeing the state without going near them. However, I couldn't do that to Mom and Dad. Unknowingly, the parents had guilted me into dealing with them by being so kind to me while I was in town.
I knew I would need to be comforted, so I bundled up in Dougie's sweatshirt, put on my cozy socks and took a deep breath. With a slight creak of the door, and an intimidating first step, I made my way down to the basement. I got to the last step, and looked to my right and there "they" were. The boxes of Geri-past.
Let's take a moment to clarify...I do not have an irrational fear of cardboard boxes, but I do have a slight fear of what could possibly be in those boxes! Dad must have sensed my shortness of breath and the layer of sweat on my brow (oh, wait...that's not fear, that's just being pregnant). He came to my rescue, wrangled a few boxes and started hauling them upstairs.
I blew the dust off the first box and dove in. All of a sudden I found myself in junior high all over again. Gap and Doc Marten's. Ice Hockey. Notes, notes and more notes. Report cards. LJHS Yearbooks. Girls' Camp at Shalom. Pictures of people I swear I've never seen before! That box wasn't so bad, 98% straight to the trash. It's best Peach Pit never know of her mom's junior high attitude!
I thought I was grateful to be done with that box and on to...ah, high school. That is until I realized high school consisted of ten boxes. (Slight exaggeration, closer to six boxes). I dove in and immediately wanted to jump back out, tape the flaps securely in place and hide the boxes for another ten years (yes, thank you...it's been ten years, give or take). I found myself grimacing as I came facetoface with, ugh, old dance pictures. No, I was not on the drill team, you know..."dance pictures" - homecoming, prom, sadies?? Why is it necessary to not only have the 8x10 but thirty wallet-sized pics?
Then it was the binders, a gazillion of those. Clearly very important to keep, what if I need a refresher on sports med, anatomy, ap biology or calculus? I shook my head in shame when I discovered that half the boxes were full...yes, full of notes. Not notes for class (those were organized in the binders), but friend notes. Hundreds of them! I would like to blame some of you fellow bloggers for the time I spent laughing at those notes, as "like, ohmygosh, you were totally writing me notes! can you believe it??". I decided it was best not to read all of them, but the few I did pry open were hilarious. I was totally cool in high school. :)
I spent the entire day sifting through my "treasures". I discovered a few things about myself. Most of which I'd rather not share on account of maintaining some dignity. I gained a greater respect for my parents, I appreciate that they let me live through my teenage years, I would have been tempted to lock someone like me in the basement. I realized that I had some pretty awesome friends and that things probably weren't nearly as dramatic as I made them out to be. Ah, the blessing of hindsight.
Most importantly I am that much more grateful for where I am now. It's fun to look at old pics, read old love letters, and laugh at journal entries, but seriously...I would never trade what I have now to go back. (Although I had some pretty rockin' wide-leg jeans and Roxy t-shirts...and I'm still tempted to pull out my Doc's this summer). Besides, those boxes are dusty and now empty!
Just a small sampling (look closely Natalie!)
Time to confront the boxes- at this point I was actually almost done!
The sisters came down after the box carnage was picked up. One last shot with them before I head home. Love the girlies.
I knew I would need to be comforted, so I bundled up in Dougie's sweatshirt, put on my cozy socks and took a deep breath. With a slight creak of the door, and an intimidating first step, I made my way down to the basement. I got to the last step, and looked to my right and there "they" were. The boxes of Geri-past.
Let's take a moment to clarify...I do not have an irrational fear of cardboard boxes, but I do have a slight fear of what could possibly be in those boxes! Dad must have sensed my shortness of breath and the layer of sweat on my brow (oh, wait...that's not fear, that's just being pregnant). He came to my rescue, wrangled a few boxes and started hauling them upstairs.
I blew the dust off the first box and dove in. All of a sudden I found myself in junior high all over again. Gap and Doc Marten's. Ice Hockey. Notes, notes and more notes. Report cards. LJHS Yearbooks. Girls' Camp at Shalom. Pictures of people I swear I've never seen before! That box wasn't so bad, 98% straight to the trash. It's best Peach Pit never know of her mom's junior high attitude!
I thought I was grateful to be done with that box and on to...ah, high school. That is until I realized high school consisted of ten boxes. (Slight exaggeration, closer to six boxes). I dove in and immediately wanted to jump back out, tape the flaps securely in place and hide the boxes for another ten years (yes, thank you...it's been ten years, give or take). I found myself grimacing as I came facetoface with, ugh, old dance pictures. No, I was not on the drill team, you know..."dance pictures" - homecoming, prom, sadies?? Why is it necessary to not only have the 8x10 but thirty wallet-sized pics?
Then it was the binders, a gazillion of those. Clearly very important to keep, what if I need a refresher on sports med, anatomy, ap biology or calculus? I shook my head in shame when I discovered that half the boxes were full...yes, full of notes. Not notes for class (those were organized in the binders), but friend notes. Hundreds of them! I would like to blame some of you fellow bloggers for the time I spent laughing at those notes, as "like, ohmygosh, you were totally writing me notes! can you believe it??". I decided it was best not to read all of them, but the few I did pry open were hilarious. I was totally cool in high school. :)
I spent the entire day sifting through my "treasures". I discovered a few things about myself. Most of which I'd rather not share on account of maintaining some dignity. I gained a greater respect for my parents, I appreciate that they let me live through my teenage years, I would have been tempted to lock someone like me in the basement. I realized that I had some pretty awesome friends and that things probably weren't nearly as dramatic as I made them out to be. Ah, the blessing of hindsight.
Most importantly I am that much more grateful for where I am now. It's fun to look at old pics, read old love letters, and laugh at journal entries, but seriously...I would never trade what I have now to go back. (Although I had some pretty rockin' wide-leg jeans and Roxy t-shirts...and I'm still tempted to pull out my Doc's this summer). Besides, those boxes are dusty and now empty!
Just a small sampling (look closely Natalie!)
Time to confront the boxes- at this point I was actually almost done!
The sisters came down after the box carnage was picked up. One last shot with them before I head home. Love the girlies.
6 comments:
Those boxes are seriously SCARY! I need to RE-go through mine.
I too had to go through boxes like that recently. It's a crazy experience. I love looking back and seeing how dramatic everything was. It seemed like the end of the world, but now ... really? How funny! And yes, you were cool in high school!
Glad to see that I am not the only one with random things from the past!! Still have all 8 pairs of the DR MARTINs (maybe secretly hoping that they might come back in style):)
Oh Geri! I think somewhere in my mom's house there is a box with the several hundred notes my friend Patty and I wrote to each other! Am I ever going to read those?! And yes, you can never be too sure about needing to refresh on an old subject, I can't seem to through away any notes! Do I need notes from Trig? I don't think so!! I love you and miss you!!!!
Geri I found your blog through Camille's. You may remember cutting my hair just weeks before I entered Motherhood. That was a great haircut!
I am sooo excited to see you're expecting in March!!! I sort of skimmed through your blog, but are you having a girl?? Congrats either way! We are welcoming another little one in May. We didn't find out the gender though which is driving me nuts!
Oh we're in VA now...so we're neighbors again (Sort of). Where in MD are guys?
Maybe next time you guys go to the temple we could meet up.
This has turned into a long comment so I will go now! Enjoy the rest of the pregnancy!
That is too funny! I would love to be reminded of all the great bits of wisdom I sent you in those notes. John was just making fun of me the other day because I still have my student council sweater. He thought his mission suit should have had more "saving power" than the sweater. High school was fun with you Geri. I'm glad we were friends.
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