Memories

This afternoon found me in the garage looking for a particular item. Finding anything specific is a labor intensive job when it comes to our garage. We have boxes from moving that are labeled a certain way, but when we unpacked and organized we re-labeled some boxes. Needless to say, looking for an item is a lesson in things not always being what they seem to be.

And just in case you were wondering, I never did find what I was looking for.

But what I did find was some other things that made me fantastically happy. I found memories! I found pictures of Daniel and my first home in Alaska - not all the pictures but a lot - I found pictures of our wedding taken by others, I found pictures from the days preceding our wedding, I found pictures from that first year of marriage and life in Alaska, even some pictures from when we first moved to North Dakota. I was, and still am, stoked!

I don't know if anyone else has this happen to them, but my memories from that period of life together feel fuzzy. Like it was a different life. I looked at the pictures (which by the way we were childless and you could totally tell, there were exactly 12,873 pictures of our cat Shelby) and I remembered so many moments in our life. It was like someone gave me those years back today. I think I have gotten so involved in the life of child-rearing that I have forgotten how it all began. I remembered this afternoon what a fantastic beginning it was.

Oh, and I totally forgot what a rockin' body I had. Sheesh! I had it going on!

I also found some journals and other miscellaneous items that brought back waves of memories. Ironically in one journal I had written a single page; on that page I lamented about how I had really fallen behind on my journaling and how I was totally going to regret that someday.

Today was that day. Oh, what I wouldn't give to read about my daily life in those early days. Seriously, I can't remember them. I have snapshots in my mind of certain events but the day in, day out stuff is not recallable. I think having three babies in somewhat rapid succession shorted out something vital in my brain.

That may be the reason why I am so thankful to have found those pictures this afternoon. The thirty minutes I spent looking through the photos reminded me of who I am, who I married, where I have come from; of life. My life. Our life together. And it made me feel as though seven years of marriage, three babies, four moves, and three different jobs can be considered an accomplishment. We've come a long way, baby.

Perhaps I can coerce Daniel to set up the scanner so I can scan some of the pictures I found. Just don't hold your breath, okay. I barely know what my name is anymore...

Wait, it's Andrea. I read it in a journal today....