Packing Detritus
I've been packing up my craft room/office/place where we store all of the crap we don't know what to do with. I'll post a picture when I'm done staging it because it's truly hilarious --it looks like my little retreat from this mad, mad world.
As if.
Anyway, the fun thing about packing up stuff is the stuff you find as you go.
Isn't that pretty? It's a sand dollar although I can't remember where we found it. I think it might be the one I picked up on Galveston Island after having looked for hours for a whole one. Suddenly, there it was. It's beautiful. I hope I can pack it carefully enough to survive our move to Long Island.
I found a picture of Ana on her first day of preschool.
Gosh, how did we go from that little face to the big kid who climbed in the van on Monday and asked if she "and Haley can go hang out at the mall?" (Once I managed to stop myself from swallowing my tongue, I did tell her that NINE YEARS OLD is WAY too young to be hanging out at the mall. When she's THIRTY, maybe.)
I also found a picture of the Thomas the Tank Engine I painted on Ana's wall when she was four.
(This was before the Princess Phase and the Neon Green and Hot Pink Pre-teen Phase which was before the current "Atrium White, never gonna paint another color on a wall as long as I live Phase".)
I found a single shoulder pad, a refugee from the 80's, I guess. I don't know why this was in with my office supplies but maybe, just maybe, I wanted to be prepared in case of a Shoulder Pad Emergency. Gosh, the 80's were brutal, people! We had to stay prepared on every front!
I found a lot of interesting things that my husband, the Messy Boy, has saved over the years. Like a bag of GI Joe clothes. (As an aside, there are some sentences you never anticipate saying to your husband, like, "Is there a reason we need to keep all of the GI Joe clothes? If there is, could you NOT tell me what it is?")
Like all of these wrist watches:
Like this Darth Vader Candy Dispenser:
May the Pez be with you.
I double-dog-dare you to eat one. I'm pretty sure the half-life of Pez is less than the twenty years or so this has been stashed away.
I also found THIS among his things:
I want y'all to know that I am pretty sure this is a big joke, given that neither one of us could vote during the Nixon years and all. But just in case I cut myself with the packing tape cutter and bleed to death while trying to make a tourniquet out of some wrist watch bands and a shoulder pad, I never owned that button. (Whew, now I can die happy.)
Over the course of the day, I went from labeling the boxes in a straight-forward fashion to labeling them with a bit of commentary.
And then, you know, I found this:
This picture was taken after our family moved from Huntsville, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama when I was almost exactly the same age as Jane is now. My mom couldn't find me and when she finally did, I'd cried myself to sleep inside of a closet.
Suddenly, this move thing doesn't seem so funny.
Dang it.
As if.
Anyway, the fun thing about packing up stuff is the stuff you find as you go.
Isn't that pretty? It's a sand dollar although I can't remember where we found it. I think it might be the one I picked up on Galveston Island after having looked for hours for a whole one. Suddenly, there it was. It's beautiful. I hope I can pack it carefully enough to survive our move to Long Island.I found a picture of Ana on her first day of preschool.
Gosh, how did we go from that little face to the big kid who climbed in the van on Monday and asked if she "and Haley can go hang out at the mall?" (Once I managed to stop myself from swallowing my tongue, I did tell her that NINE YEARS OLD is WAY too young to be hanging out at the mall. When she's THIRTY, maybe.)I also found a picture of the Thomas the Tank Engine I painted on Ana's wall when she was four.
(This was before the Princess Phase and the Neon Green and Hot Pink Pre-teen Phase which was before the current "Atrium White, never gonna paint another color on a wall as long as I live Phase".)
I found a single shoulder pad, a refugee from the 80's, I guess. I don't know why this was in with my office supplies but maybe, just maybe, I wanted to be prepared in case of a Shoulder Pad Emergency. Gosh, the 80's were brutal, people! We had to stay prepared on every front!
I found a lot of interesting things that my husband, the Messy Boy, has saved over the years. Like a bag of GI Joe clothes. (As an aside, there are some sentences you never anticipate saying to your husband, like, "Is there a reason we need to keep all of the GI Joe clothes? If there is, could you NOT tell me what it is?")
Like all of these wrist watches:
Like this Darth Vader Candy Dispenser:
May the Pez be with you.
I double-dog-dare you to eat one. I'm pretty sure the half-life of Pez is less than the twenty years or so this has been stashed away.
I also found THIS among his things:
I want y'all to know that I am pretty sure this is a big joke, given that neither one of us could vote during the Nixon years and all. But just in case I cut myself with the packing tape cutter and bleed to death while trying to make a tourniquet out of some wrist watch bands and a shoulder pad, I never owned that button. (Whew, now I can die happy.)Over the course of the day, I went from labeling the boxes in a straight-forward fashion to labeling them with a bit of commentary.
And then, you know, I found this:
This picture was taken after our family moved from Huntsville, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama when I was almost exactly the same age as Jane is now. My mom couldn't find me and when she finally did, I'd cried myself to sleep inside of a closet.
Suddenly, this move thing doesn't seem so funny.
Dang it.
Comments
I have that exact shoulder pad in my underwear drawer. Just one. So...you know...if either of us ever needs a whole pair...
It happens, honey. Moving, relocating, it's a good lesson in adjustment. The girls will be fine, probably even better for it.
She really DID love Thomas, huh? I kind of thought you were blowing smoke that day! :)
But that doesn't mean it's going to be easy, you know? And I'm fully aware that if we always do the easy thing, that's all our kids know. This is an opportunity to teach our kids how to deal with a stressful situation, from the safety of our loving family.
But... well. It's hard. It's hard for me, too. I am pretty sure that there will be some days when I want to cry myself to sleep in my closet. OF course, in the new house, I could pull my queen size BED into my closet and cry in comfort.)
Yes, she loved Thomas. I've read every story ever written about Thomas. And, um, that Thomas? It was almost LIFE-SIZED.
Totally off topic, retro booty is brilliant. Been there, bought the t-shirt. Thanks for the laugh.