Memories

When I was in middle and high school my mom would send me in to clean my room and I would spend hours at my desk -- going through old cards, papers, notes.

When I was in college I kept a scrapbook where I put all the cards and notes I got from people. I also kept matchbooks, ticket stubs, agendas from memorable meetings -- just about anything.

My husband, who wasn’t my husband back then, told me that he had an “encouragement” file where he put things that would cheer him up when he needed it and I thought that was a pretty good idea -- and that stuff ended up in my scrapbook.

Since I started getting kids, I’ve shoved lots of things into a file -- and today I started a project and felt like I was back in high school again, because I got lost for quite some time in a file filled with notes and cards.

But instead of being from friends or boys I liked or my roommate they were notes written in crayon or scribbled on in pencil. They were drawings and paintings and craft projects, valentines and mother’s day cards, and even an occasional sappy note from my husband.

I’ve always been one who believed that the definition of family extended far beyond one’s children, parents, spouse, and relatives. I’ve been blessed all my life to have connections with amazing people who I dearly love.

But there’s something about notes from people who call me “Mom” or from my own husband . . . maybe it’s that Particular Love my husband blogs about . . . but knowing that forever and always these once small children and toddlers, now teens and preteens, will soon be young adults ... men and women . . . and that I will still be their mom ... is powerful.

When the arguments and fighting, squabbling and screaming, dirty socks and wet toilet seats are all a memory, I will come back to this file and fondly remember these days . . . remembering the best times and forgetting the rest... and wonder how time went so fast.

And recalling all this shows that I am still the same girl I was 25 years ago -- one who can get lost in memories and ignore the task at hand and now, with this blessed technology, I can even waste more time blogging that I did.