Items found in storage bring back a lot of memories
(This column was written by BW -- Wanda -- my soulmate of more than 50 years.)
Time machines exist. In my case it was constructed of several large fiber barrels. I saved everything in my youth. When we moved, which was often, we moved everything because there was no time to purge.
We had been storing about 15 of those large fiber barrels in our garage far too long. In the 24 years we have lived here, they had mostly been untouched. So a decree went out from 6860 Sunrise Drive, "We have done our part. It is time for you to go through them and either take them and their contents to your much larger houses, or contribute them to Ray's Trash Service or Mount Rumpke."
But before the appointed day, I put on my Sherlock Holmes cap, clinched my rosewood pipe between my teeth and dived into the barrels to discover that only about four of the barrels were mine. So I climbed into the time machine, revved the engines and roared into the air on a magnificent flight to the land of reminisce. I'm really glad I did, because it was like going back to the time when I was much younger. The years were turned back, my memories came alive and I was lost in nostalgia. Indiana Jones would rejoice. I found the receipt to my husband's wedding band that only cost $18 but that was 53 years ago. He still wears it so that was the best investment I ever made. I found the receipt for my wedding rings from Ingall's Jewelry Store in Worthington, the $50 receipt for my wedding gown, (which I still have, but it's stored away in another container) the Indy speeding ticket my husband paid the day before our wedding, penciled lists of our wedding plans, my diary from 1953 to 1958, the year we married, oh, that was interesting. Love letters from my husband when he was in the Navy; I joined him in July 1959. I guess females are more sentimental than males, as I kept mine, I didn't find mine to him.
Going further back, I found old grade school valentines, party invitations and napkins, ticket stubs, scrapbooks of my senior year and college, copies of our school newspaper -- The Ink Blot -- when I was the humor editor. Using my archeological rake to investigate my treasure trove I found a cigar box of newspaper clippings. A thorough reading of those clippings revealed that I was president of the girl's chorus, vice president of the band, and vice president of the Girl Scouts, I didn't even remember that. There were programs of musical performances when I was in the band and chorus; evidently I was in a trumpet trio and brass quartet and sextet, of which I don't remember either. I do remember winning a $200 scholarship in a health and safety contest through 4-H.
There was a picture of my dog Sandy, when I won a ribbon with her dressed in a clown costume, for "most original costume." There were bank books and rent receipts for rent from our first apartment -- $18 a week. It was a two-room upstairs furnished apartment on North New Jersey Street in Indianapolis, and records of two items my husband and I paid off in monthly installments before we were married.
Stay tuned for more next week.
Larry grew up north of Calvertville on a farm and graduated from Worthington High School and Indiana State University. He can be reached at Goosecrick@aol.com or (317) 839-7656. Write him at 6860 Sunrise Drive, Plainfield, Ind., 46168. He has written five books.
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