Ode to Moving

I'm in the middle of packing right now to make my big move.  The problem is I get sidetracked by the hilarity of what I find lurking in some drawer or box.  Wow.  A person can accumulate some interesting items.  Mom gave me all of my childhood and high school boxes from her basement a few years back and I didn't go through them; I just threw them on a shelf in my basement...until now. 

I decided that this move I'm going through EVERYTHING.  So, all of my childhood, high school, and college memories are being sifted through to decide what is important enough to make the cut. 

My biggest question is...Mom, why did you save some of this stuff?  Oh I take that back, it's been a real treat seeing it and I'm glad I get to be brought back to all the good, bad, and ugly of my youth. 

It's apparent that my insane OCD was screaming even as a first grader.  But, hey, looks like my perfectionism earned me a "RIGHT ON!"  Awesome.  Note that we learned how to spell Pilgrim; always an important word.    

Here we have what is a lovely story from that same first grade journal.  I think I was advanced.  This is some funny stuff.  A snowman.  A moron.  A boy.  A girl.  Happy.  Sad.  It has all the makings of a big time movie drama. 

Now this, this is not from first grade.  This is middle school.  If you are pretending that you didn't secretly love the Backstreet Boys, then you are straight up lying.  The good news is...it was an Enhanced CD.  Thank goodness it wasn't a plain CD.  That would have been an autrocity.   

(P.S.  The one on the far right, Brian, was my favorite.  I know you were dying to know.)  

Here comes early high school.  Ahhh, The Dixie Chicks.  This must have been before they made fun of President Bush and the whole world hated them. 

Ok.  I am really making myself a nerd with this next one, but the thing is, I'm totally ok with it.  Look who was Champion Plant and Soil Science Exhibitor in 1995 for 4-H.  Yeah that's right.  Me.  I only wish you could see that this baby is taller than a small child.    

And last, but certainly not least, this book of jokes was written by yours truly at about age eight.  It's my favorite find so far.  I tell you what, there is some good material in there.  So good that I can't show you any of it.  I think I'm going to hit the road.  Please hold your applause for my favorite rooster doing a mighty fine job of holding up the jokes.  He might have to come on the road with me. 

Let's just have a silent moment for moving.                                                    Alright, that's long enough.  But, in all seriousness, it's kind of fun to be reminded of the some of the crazy things from the past.  I also found some pretty interesting notes (B.T. before texting) from friends in high school and many, many, many incriminating pictures from college, but I don't think the world is ready for those.   

One last thing.  In case it's killing you to know what made the cut...the trophy didn't, the CDs didn't, but the journal of my first grade writing did and of course The Joke Book did.  Those two are priceless.  Besides, I'm pretty sure I can sell "The Funny Snowman" to a movie producer for some big bucks.  You never know, it might be coming to a theater near you...