I went home to visit my parents over the holidays and they had a surprise waiting for me. No, not a new car or even a cashmere sweater. Instead, they pulled out ALL of the boxes of stuff I was saving for posterity (or something like that). All fifteen boxes, each filled to the brim with pictures of friends, notes from boyfriends (the 9th grade ones were by far the funniest), yearbooks, old school projects, prom photos, report cards. You name it, it was in the boxes. (I think I might be a secret hoarder – who saves fifteen boxes full of stuff?!)
I was a little stressed about going through everything. I mean, who wants to throw away memories? But I also knew I couldn’t keep that many boxes at my parents’ house anymore. They laid down the law and said I could keep one box. From fifteen to one. So…I started organizing. A big trash bag at my side, I rifled through my past for hours. And hours. And hours. It takes a LONG time to go through that much stuff. But you know what? It was kind of fun. I had to share some of the goodies from my trash/treasure hunt. I found a note from my friend Jake in 10th grade (something I’m sure he wrote while trying to avoid paying attention in chemistry) and I laughed for ten minutes after reading it. The note says it all:
Then, I found a picture from senior prom. I will say I am about the palest human being on the planet but my family had just gotten home from an awesome beach vacation so I look really tan.
And I found all of my student IDs. These were like hitting the jackpot. You can see how I changed from 8th to 12th grade (except Junior year – my wallet was stolen in 11th grade so that student ID is long gone). Talk about a trip down memory lane.
8th Grade (The year my family moved to Salt Lake City from Bellevue, Washington. That was a HARD, hard year for me.)
9th Grade (Braces off, yay!)
10th Grade (Finally in high school – the 3 year Junior High thing was kind of torture.)
12th Grade (Senior year, ready for the next step at college, but I definitely have good memories of this year.)
4 Comments
You are so brave. I think I have all my old school IDs in a box too, and they shall probably remain there until I die.
From one SHS and CHS alumni to another – this was an awesome blast from the past. I have not yet ventured into the boxes in my Mom’s basement… treasures horded by my teen self.
My question is, which Jake is your note from?
-Katie
I did this a few years back, and I think it was really good for me. It’s a task, but so validating. I remember feeling satisfied with where I’ve landed…
It’s kind of a trip to go back, right? I had no idea I’d kept so much stuff, but I’m glad I did. It was cathartic to purge some of it but I kept all the good stuff. And I’m totally saving all those notes in case I ever write a YA novel! (Oh, and the note was from Jake Hansen who lived a few streets down from me. Such a great guy.)