This weekend I had a little free time, so I started digging though my big box of sentimental stuff from my childhood with the idea that I would do a little work on my 40th year project. As I shuffled through the box, I found myself bypassing the photos and papers and instead focused in on several small trinkets. Â A few years back, I wrote a couple of posts showing things I found in boxes when I was cleaning out our basement (you can read them here and here) so I decided to revitalize this short series by showing you my most recent archaeological finds!
My first pair of glasses
Oh, ugh! I got my first pair of glasses in 1986 when I was 13 years old. My prescription was so mild that I probably could have managed fine without them, but I really, really wanted a specific style of glasses — the ones pictured above — so I insisted that I couldn’t read the blackboard at school. The eye doctor backed me up and I got to bring these humongous yet fashionable blue glasses home with me. I remember it was tough to choose between these and the pink ones.
Want to see a picture of me wearing them? Of course you do!
Here I am looking just as awkward as I did in eight grade!
Strawberry Shortcake pin
In the past I’ve also written about the Strawberry Shortcake dolls and play sets I’ve carefully saved. I loved my Strawberry Shortcake dolls. LOVED THEM! I remember collecting proofs of purchases to “buy” a ring and a necklace, but I’d completely forgotten that I also saved enough to buy this pin. The other pieces of jewelry are gone as far as I know, so I was thrilled to find this pin in the box. It’s in awesome shape and it’s still on the velvet paper thingy even. Perhaps this will be making an appearance on my suit lapel someday soon?
(Er…if I ever purchase a suit, that is.)
“Brownies Can Do Anything!” necklace
Do you know what brownies can do?
ANYTHING!
And I have the necklace to prove it!
I was an extremely enthusiastic brownie and junior girl scout and my parents did a lot to encourage that, including but not limited to buying me brownie and girl scout swag. This necklace got a lot of wear, but I carefully returned it to it’s case each night after I took it off and it was still in that original box when I pulled it out the other day. Why was the charm of this necklace in the shape of a t-shirt? I don’t know! We liked our t-shirts back in the late 70’s, I guess.
“To be opened when I’m dead” letter
Hooooo boy! I bet whatever is in this envelope is awesome but I’m not dead so I can’t open it to find out. Just handling the envelope made me cringe with embarrassment though. My guess is that on the papers inside I left various precious objects to my cousins, told my brother that he should have been nicer to me and declared my undying love for some cute buy jerky boy(s) at my jr. high. There must be a few other things going on too because this envelope is pretty thick. A poem maybe?
Please also note the strip of scotch tape running down the middle of the envelope. This was surely used to tape it to the bottom of the desk in my room so it would stay hidden until after my tragic death.
Tiny Portable My Melody House
OK, how cute is this?? This is a tiny, portable My Melody play set — about 5 x 4 inches and an inch thick. I had forgotten I owned this, but once I picked it up I remembered all sorts of things about it. I got it at the Sanrio store that was like a little annex inside a bigger gift shop at the mall. I was with my friend, Nancy, when I bought it and it was discounted because the foot board on the bed was missing from the set. I bought a lot of stuff at that store and I still have a lot of it, actually.
I am dying from the cute-osity and that’s exactly how I felt back then too. Look at that teeny little heart shaped alarm clock! I’m 40 years old, but just looking at this makes me feel 8 years old again.
You can see that it can be disassembled and all the pieces can be stored in the base. I can’t figure out how to get the roof in though and the internet is no help because I haven’t been able to find mention of this particular item anywhere.
What about you? Do you hold onto things like these too?
