KS - The blue box - 1
1- Looking around our home, I find many keepsakes, some of which are very meaningful and others are things that I simply never got around to throwing away. I guess the reason for the latter is that even though they have little or no value in themselves, they key in my mind remembrances of time segments from my past – some pleasant and some not so much so.
There is a wooden box down in our storage area that I made in Jr. High – circa 1956 – during wood shop. It was fairly well made - I thought - but the teacher didn’t seem to think too much of it because he wanted me to build something more complicated. This box is painted a bright blue – somewhat faded now – and is almost empty except for many memories. The blue box was the thing that started this whole writing project, starting mostly after high school graduation and continuing the story until after I got married.
The good things I remember about Jr. High were getting decent grades – as long as I didn’t have to work too hard for them – and the library. I read more books in ninth and tenth grades than before or since. The bad had to do with the normal turmoil of growing up and being accepted. Wrestling with my developing spiritual beliefs made all the other seem much more complicated and/or stressful.
One of the items the box still contains is a pack of business size cards printed only with my full name and were meant to be put in my high-school graduation invitations or to be handed out to fellow high-school graduates in 1959. Only a very few are missing for at least three reasons. The first was due to the fact that in the excitement they were forgotten and second, I don’t think I got around to sending any invitations out and third, I don’t remember having very many close friends during that time - being somewhat of a loner.
This is not to say that I didn’t have any friends, just hardly any close ones. The reason for that was mainly because I rose at 4am every morning all through my junior high and high school years and that kept me from being up very late at night. Also most of my friends were church ones and this also contributed to me not running with any ‘wild’ crowds. I didn’t object to having friends, especially of the feminine type, but being painfully shy precluded many of these connections as well.
TBC - ec
There is a wooden box down in our storage area that I made in Jr. High – circa 1956 – during wood shop. It was fairly well made - I thought - but the teacher didn’t seem to think too much of it because he wanted me to build something more complicated. This box is painted a bright blue – somewhat faded now – and is almost empty except for many memories. The blue box was the thing that started this whole writing project, starting mostly after high school graduation and continuing the story until after I got married.
The good things I remember about Jr. High were getting decent grades – as long as I didn’t have to work too hard for them – and the library. I read more books in ninth and tenth grades than before or since. The bad had to do with the normal turmoil of growing up and being accepted. Wrestling with my developing spiritual beliefs made all the other seem much more complicated and/or stressful.
One of the items the box still contains is a pack of business size cards printed only with my full name and were meant to be put in my high-school graduation invitations or to be handed out to fellow high-school graduates in 1959. Only a very few are missing for at least three reasons. The first was due to the fact that in the excitement they were forgotten and second, I don’t think I got around to sending any invitations out and third, I don’t remember having very many close friends during that time - being somewhat of a loner.
This is not to say that I didn’t have any friends, just hardly any close ones. The reason for that was mainly because I rose at 4am every morning all through my junior high and high school years and that kept me from being up very late at night. Also most of my friends were church ones and this also contributed to me not running with any ‘wild’ crowds. I didn’t object to having friends, especially of the feminine type, but being painfully shy precluded many of these connections as well.
TBC - ec
posted by mreddie | 10:15 AM
5 Comments:
I have a trunk in my house that has all these types of things...yearbooks, report cards, projects, reports, etc. It's nice to have memories...and reminders of them.
- Jon
- Daddy Detective
- www.daddydetective.com
dad - Memories are a precious part of life, especially the ones of those that are not with us anymore. Thanks for stopping by. ec
What a nice recollection - seems most junior high kids are shy, and some learn the ropes a little faster. I'm glad everything worked out so well for you, and that you enjoy looking back.
I, too, had a bunch of those little “calling cards.” Come to think of it, I had 2 sets: the printer misspelled my name on the first set.
bonita - Shy would have been the understatement of what I was and I can only appreciate the experience looking back. It is quite a long story and I'm going to do a couple of them a week until I'm through.
SSN - You might say that I had a name but was too shy or naive to give it out to others - not the case now. :) ec
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