The blog and our conversations inspired my mother to pull out a fabulous stack of mementos and keepsakes that she’s had stashed away and added to over the years (which I almost dumped a glass of wine on—Yes, me and my archival degree). Among the finds were a stack of stories and poetry I wrote as a child, some as loose sheets and others assembled into booklets. My father and I exclaimed over one of the booklets because in the back I had added a photo album to illustrate the personal stories it included four fabulous and well preserved photographs. There was also a booklet of my maternal grandfather’s poetry and poetry he had collected, a TWA certificate from 1956 stating that my mother had completed the flight from Paris to Detroit, and a good size stack of Mother’s Day cards from my brother and I to Mom. It was fun to go through the packets and really interesting to discuss what I found with my parents. The picture is a sample find from my childhood.

Translation:

Wintertime by Jessica

Winter is a time when you go ice skating and go ski and make snow men. The End.

It made me laugh for a number of reasons including the idea that I associated these things with winter but I didn’t learn to skate or ski until my freshman year of college.

Look for your family stashes!

Happy Hunting,

Jess