Last weekend, my parents went down to Pennsylvania to help my aunt move out of her house. In the process they went through a lot of old stuff which they were kind enough to bring back home and share with me. And now I will share it with you.
The first item was an envelope of letters that I had sent to my aunt through the years. Apparently I only thought of her on Thanksgiving, since every single card was a Happy Thanksgiving!!! card. And apparently, I never learned how to spell "aunt" throughout the duration of my childhood, since I continually referred to her as "Dear Anut Emily." (Dear Aunt Emily, if you are reading this, I do not think you are a nut.) But besides the timing and the spelling, the best part by far was the following: "Dear Anut Emily, Sorry I haven't written lately! This letter is going to be real short because the mail is coming any minute now! Do you like my stationary? We got a color printer so I made it myself! Is there anything new happening lately? Nothing here!" Short, sweet, and replete with 90's enthusiasm.
The second treasure was a box filled with my mom's momentos - photos, letters, etc. One of the standout articles was her driver's ed certificate, which was nothing if not a cautionary tale against ever letting your child get behind the wheel. This paragraph pretty much sums up the doom and gloom: "The automobile is today an essential part of our everyday life. Our children will be using one in their business or for pleasure until they die. How quickly they reach their graves may depend upon how competent and safe their driving is. Won't you help them?" Seeing as how my mom has totaled 5 cars since that letter was issued, the death proclamation didn't quite achieve its desired effect.
Moral of the story: keep anything that contains writing. It's literally priceless, and is guaranteed to make you laugh at some point down the road...a lot.
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