Monday Memories

Last post on this subject matter dealt with “Collecting vs. Family Museum.” This Monday I want to share with you what I did this past weekend – organizing memories. Yep! Back into our family museum, this time on our children’s collections. Oh, how I almost despaired tackling this treasure trove. Their museum has a total of, at present; 44 years for Tiffeni and 27 years for Charlie, totaling 71 years of keepsakes. WOW! And because my Blog Spot will focus on their museum at a later date, I just want to sum up at this point how I felt as I opened many of the boxes of the things they chose to save. And what a blast to the past I had!

The hallway was strewed with toys, a large wooden horse, table and chairs, dollhouse, rolls of posters, bins of baby clothes, and of course boxes. The first items I organized were the baby clothes. And more than baby outfits. There were piles of play clothes, fancy dresses and little man outfits.

 And shoes! Now these are by far the most endearing items. As I picked them up and felt the smooth leather and re-tied the laces, I floated on a wonderful flood of memories. The tiniest ones gave me much pause. Then I ran my fingers over the scuffed toes of the shoes they wore when they began crawling. Their first walking shoes made me laugh at the pictures in my head of their tumbles and falls and determination to feel the power of movement in their little legs. Even hubby got a bit misty eyed when he recalled how his Tiffy would call out to him to tie the laces on her first pair of sneakers. Before I put them back in the box, I lined them up and took photos of them all.

Then came the boxes of school papers, a toy chest full of journals, and toys galore. The baby toys tell many stories, but the toys the kids really played with when they got holder hold the magic of their imagination, personality traits, learning styles, and interests. As we watched our children play with these toys, little did we know then that they were the tools of their development. And most importantly, the children, now adults, can see for themselves when they pass by their museum, how important it was and is to save the things from their past, for it is from their past they learned what they do in the present and take in regard in planning their future.   

So back I go into their museum for I have much more work to do before I have it all organized, photographed, and ready to share with you. Meanwhile, I am enjoying my Monday Memories. I hope you have many good ones, too.

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