boxes filled with old letters and pictures and notes of this and that – the things you save for sentimental reasons or because someday down the road you hope your kids will find some of your life interesting as they look back over an old tattered envelope that your dad threw from a train as it was going through the town your mom (and you – obviously) lived in while he was in the service but the train wasn’t stopping there and someone found the envelope with the note in it and gave said envelope to your mom and now it has carried a lock of your baby hair in it for 60 some years; along with other bits and pieces of your life that aren’t important to anyone but you.
The dust is there, literally in your nose and throat as you leaf through papers and pictures. Not the kind of dust that flies up into the air in a cloud or manages to roll into a fuzzy dust ball, but the kind you can’t see but you can smell it and your nose hurts from it and the back of your throat feels dry. The dust is there, memories churn up a whirlwind of long forgotten events as you pick up speed through a past that was never quite forgotten, surfacing with old photos, songs, and a variety of triggers that take you back to a moment in time.
Long closed boxes that have teased and then nagged to be opened, clutter left uncared for, untended, and the time to cure the nagging has arrived. The contents split between the garbage and sorted piles on the floor to be mailed to some, handed off to others to become boxes in their lives after they look through the contents and treasure a bit of their history.
Many things came back while reading, looking, and sorting. Two that struck me:
Kayanna was a few months old in this picture – she’s 14 now and starts high school next year. It was taken in early ’97. Damn…I’m thinking to chop off my locks and go back to that hair style…just thinking…
And seeing this sent a pain through my heart – Pete Popovich, gone, how is it possible?
The picture of Pete and the following one were taken at Ruth Chris’ Steak House when Boly, Pete, Carmen, and MOI went out to dinner to celebrate being friends. Somewhere in ’99 I believe. We did have a great time, and wrapping it around my thoughts, it’s now even better because I got to share some time with some really special people.
Some of the dust is already settling back into place but the journey isn’t over yet.
Yes, going through boxes of stuff that haven’t been looked at for years is rather interesting. I am trying to down size the stuff and get rid of things I know we will not use again. Pictures are different. They represent time and the experiences that took place. They can’t be replaced. Have fun with memories.
Whatever happened to the Montana stories? I thought you were going to continue on with them all the way to your coming to Vegas. I enjoyed them.
PS:
Happy Valentine’s Day. 🙂
Hi Charlie, It would seem as though I’ve forgotten them but I haven’t. I’ve been spinning my way through moving into the new abode, cleaning, sorting, and have found two of my MT player picture albums. Soon the mess of moving and arranging will be finished and then I think it will be time to float back into the past and start pitching tales.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you too!!!