Greetings and Salutations on This Beautiful Afternoon!

And the year is . . . uh . . . 1985?   2001?  2009?  And I am a toothy seventh grader unsure of everything?  An actor in a Luther College theater production built on platforms in the gym?  A young mom with two squirrelly tots  in diapers?

Whoa! There are times when I wouldn’t mind going back in a time machine, just for a short visit.

But this?  This is crazy.

What am I doing? I am pulling all our photos together,  affixing them digitally to the twenty first century.

And because I am still in the twentieth century and like to sit on the sofa and look at albums, I am  organizing the photo albums to be uh, accurate? Timely? Non-anachronistic?

And along the way I have been purging the guest room dresser of the greeting cards that I have been keeping because I couldn’t part with them yet.

Now, though, it seems that I can.

And, so, I am taking advantage of this clarity of mind and purpose to go through years of Christmas and birthday cards. I am keeping special ones in my smile file, but the vast majority are being recycled.

It is most difficult to recycle those from people who are no longer living. I used to feel like some sort of traitor to their memory if I tossed anything from them.

I have come to the realization that they would rather have me doing something that makes me happy like sewing or reading or walking, than ruminating about a letter they sent years and years ago.

Can’t live in the past. Need to live in the present.

There are some that are saved. But not all, like before.

And then we come to the photographs. Oh my. As I told the hubster, the most difficult part of sifting through the photos is that I miss my kids.  At each age!

I want to hug the toothless Michael and brush Jes’s long hair. I want to sit down and read to them like I used to. I want to fix ants on a log for my kids who are running around with black capes on because costumes are not just for Halloween in our house.  I want to shuck corn with Jes at the picnic table. I want to wade out into that cold Lake Superior water and filter  four bottles with Michael for breakfast. I want to hear Jes playing oboe from the pit for the Mikado, wearing a sleeping bag to keep warm because she had mono and was cold. I want to see Michael turn around, find us in the audience at the PCHS graduation and tip his mortarboard to us in recognition and gratitude.

I miss my kids.

Thankfully, I took a lot of pictures.

A.  Lot.   Of.   Pictures.

And, that’s what I’ll be doing for the next few days. AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! It’ll take longer than that.

Anyway, as my sister says, it’ll keep me off the streets.

Have a Phenomenal Friday coming up. I plan on it!

Love,

Janet