self portrait

While in Utah last week, we spent time trying to help my parents rid themselves of their junk. They've lived in the same house since I was five (26 years) and they've acquired and kept lots of... stuff. We threw away a ton and donated more. We went through boxes and boxes and boxes and found a few gems. Each of the kids went home with a few keepsakes. I was lucky enough to find one of my old baby blankets. It used to be pink, but it's almost white now. It's so worn down, but there aren't any holes and it's super soft. I hope someday I can wrap it around a little girl of my own.

I also came away with some of my school papers and art projects. It's amazing HOW MUCH my mom saved! With ten children, each completing 13 years of school, you can imagine how much homework was laying around. It was fun to look through, but the only paper I decided to keep was a self portrait I drew in Kindergarten. What's amazing about this picture is that I can actually remember sitting in my desk drawing it. It's not something I thought about until I saw the picture, but while looking at it, I had a flash back of being frustrated about my neck. I colored my collar too high and then tried to make it look like a turtle neck even though the purple shirt I was wearing was not a turtleneck. Anyway, besides the messed up shirt, this is exactly what I looked like in Kindergarten:
As parents, we keep things for our kids that we hope they will want someday. I know my mom was afraid to toss anything because she was sure we would eventually ask for it. But after going through my mom's things, I realized that most of what they kept was, in fact, not worth keeping. Pictures are priceless and it's unfortunate they didn't have the technology we have today because I would love to see a few more shots of my cute little girl face! The pictures I came away with, I will treasure for always. I also took a whole pile of shots that I plan to digitize and give to the rest of my family-- this one was taken while my parents were engaged. Amazing that they were once younger than me. They look like babies!
Bev wasn't the most organized or the cleanest mom on the planet. But I can tell you this-- she was almost perfect at keeping a journal. She has volumes and volumes of hand-written notebooks about the life of our family. If my siblings are going to fight over anything when she dies, we will fight over those journals. In those thousands of pages is my childhood-- the funny things I said and did, how my parents and siblings reacted when they found out I was joining the family, what they wanted to name me, my first words, steps, my first sleepover. My mom documented each and every one of her kids lives. It's truly incredible what she did for us. If I had all the time in the world, I would type up those pages and make them into books... and maybe someday I will have the time. Until then, I am going to follow my mother's example and continue to document the lives of my boys so they, too, can know what they said and did as children. It's amazing (and a little sad) how quickly the years fly by. Before we know it, our kids will be married with their own little ones and they will say, "My parents used to look like babies!"