A Walk Down Memory Lane

I had a walk down memory lane today…

I was looking for a poem that my dear friend Marlene had written for me when my Mom died (8 years ago today).  Unfortunately I didn’t find the poem, but I found lots of other fun items…and maybe that was God’s plan.

Instead of the sad moment I would have had reading the poem, I had lots of smiles, laughs and a few giggles looking through old photos.

I smiled as I looked through the photos of Mom and Dad together.  The photos of the entire family – all six of us kids.

And then there were the photos of just a few of us together at a time….like the one of me and my brother Mike boxing – laughing  while we “fought”.

A photo of all five of my siblings…four of whom are holding pets…Steve had the dog, Tom had a pig, John had a cat, Mike had a rabbit, and my sister Carol had me.  Hmmm….lets not think too hard on that one.

The photo of Dad and I riding horses.  I was on Angel.  I think that’s the horse that stepped on my head when I fell off.  True story.  Explains a lot, doesn’t it!

The photo of me hugging a cow.  I still love cows…and yes I eat red meat.  Go figure.  I love most all animals, except snakes…they don’t count, they’re disgusting…but I digress…

Then there’s the photo you see with this story…That would be a much younger me with my dog…Arfie.  Yes, her name was Arfie…I named her when I was really little (obviously).  She was a GREAT dog.  She’d play with all the kids, letting them sit on her, tug at her ears…poor thing!

Then there were photos of me with my nieces and nephews (the ear tuggers).  I loved being an Aunt…let me rephrase that, I love being an Aunt.  They sure were cute little goobers.  Now they’re beautiful and handsome adults!  Where did the time go?  It seems like only yesterday we were jumping in mud puddles (yes I was the instigator), singing kids songs, or I was rocking them to sleep.  Yup…I still love babies.

Ohhhhh…goodness…and the photos of all the glasses through the ages…oh.my.God.  Bad, bad, bad…this would be the moments of laughter during the day.  And to think I really thought I looked good back then!  There were purple/green ones, and great big round brown ones…yikes!

Although I do have to admit that I’ve always had quite a fashion sense.  I see it now in all these pictures.  From the fur hat, to the leopard print winter coat, to the red, white and blue print outfit which I wore with red, white and blue striped socks.  Man, I was stylin’!  I can blame my sister for part of this fashion bug of mine…I’ll never forget the time she showed up at Mom and Dad’s house with an armload of clothes for me.  She had gone to a fabulous little kids clothing store and bought me the most amazing clothes!  I was in Heaven!  Yup…it’s all her fault (teehee).

And I found notes…and cards…

Love notes and cards to my husband that he’d saved.  Love notes and cards to me from Tim that I’ve saved.  Notes from the girls from when they were really little.  {insert giggles}

And I found the most wonderful Congratulation cards that my Mom had saved from when I was born.  And our hospital bracelets.  That was one of the sweet moments of the day.

I have about 8 bins of things for my oldest daughter that I’ve saved over the years.  She threatens me with throwing it all away which I admit makes me a little sad.  OK, maybe I didn’t need to save EVERY little paper (I really didn’t).  But some of those projects were really cool!  And then there were all the dance competitions…there’s definitely a few trophies.

Sam and Gabi don’t have as many bins.  I think I started to pare down after Alex.  They have plenty of bins too, don’t get me wrong.  And they’ll probably also question why I saved certain things for them.

But I hope that someday they’ll sit down with their bins and get as much pleasure going through them as I did mine.

Alas, it’s all tucked back into the cedar chest.  Waiting for the next time I want to walk down memory lane.

Now, I’m off to make more memories…

Gabi has a basketball tournament tomorrow and then I get to watch a baby!  Whoohoooo!

I hope you have a restful night and a great Saturday!

God Bless,

Patty O

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