Reminiscence

I have a two-shelf bookcase that, for the past few years, has housed my journals and some of my old school papers. It has been tucked into a corner behind a recliner for the past year in my current apartment. I don't get into it very often, cause I can spend hours and hours going through stuff. Tonight I packed up the contents of the bookcase, and wouldn't let myself crack open any of the journals, but in the process of trying to sort out junk from the good stuff, I've gone through much of the other items, and been amused by much of it and spent most of the evening waxing nostalgic :)

I found 4 "peer evaluation" sticky notes in an old folder from either Mrs. Baker's English class or Ms. Bagwell's Speech class at Wilburton High that read:

*Good - Good job of using your own ideas!
*Bad - a little long.

*Good - Nothing. Just kiddin'. very descriptive.
*Bad - Mispronounced picture, talk louder. Jumbled. It wasn't a rabid dog. He was a beagle. Quit copying off of me. Too many reasons. Dill was dumb. How can you like him? Too L O N G.

The last set made me grin. I and four guys in my class had four classes together that year (we made up the AP/Honors group of our tiny senior class), and the guys loved to pick on me. Later, I found my little photo album of senior pictures with name cards, and Jonathan, the same guy who wrote the second set of critiques, wrote on the back of his:

"Eve, Hello Little One. I'm sorry I picked on you so much. It was just because I like you. I hope you succeed in OU, and have a great life. Try to marry into money. You will be a great wife. I'll miss you."

I looked for him on Facebook and Myspace, but to no avail.

I think memories like this are what make me like Facebook so much! I love re-connecting with people who have shared my life in some way in the past, and being remembered of the little experiences we shared that make life such a personalized experience.

I have another sticky note that Matt wrote during an Academic team trip. It says "Eve likes guys". So random. But it makes me laugh every time I see it.

I also found a tourist book about Chicago that I bought when I went there for an FBLA trip my junior year. I fell in love with the "Corn cob" towers and bought the book just so I could show my family where I was going to live some day.

As difficult as life has been over the last several years, I absolutely love breaking out my old stuff from high school and the first few years of college & finding sweet notes, or mean notes written with a facetious tone, or the crepe paper jewelry that Greg decorated me with in his cute, awkward efforts to cheer me up the day my grandfather passed away.

I found a piece of paper that several girls at the Institute in Norman wrote to me when I returned after a semester at home, with sweet notes and expressions of friendly encouragement.

I found a set of "love notes" from the Memphis Relief Society spanning about a year when we sent around pieces of blank paper for sisters to write compliments and thoughts about one another during classes.

I know I have loved and been loved by many, and I have been blessed to have good people cross my path in every place I have been in. Evenings like this are good for the soul. :D