two shoeboxes

This is really funny.

So I was cleaning my room. At first I thought to myself that I would get rid of all the clutter that my pack rat of a self has collected over the years. Maybe then I wouldn't have that much stuff to make a mess with anymore.

I started cleaning, and then started taking out the boxes and boxes of "stuff" that I had, in an attempt to empty them all out.

In one box, i found a little basket, made from pine needles and raffia... wow. That was from fourth grade. When we used to learn about the Native Americans, and the Gold Rush. Wow. And then i found a lanyard.. actually.. many, unfinished lanyards. Hmm.. those were from what, fifth grade? sixth grade? Sarah and I used to make them ALL the time through the summer. I guess if you asked her brother Omar, he'd say we were obsessed. I remember he'd walk into my room all the time and ask what we were doing. Too engulfed in our lanyard weaving... we'd just reply, "thiiiis!" And then he'd take a hint and leave us to our lanyards. I cant believe i still had these. I had no idea i still had these. So i kept emptying out the box. And then I found a bunch of rocks. rocks? ok.. i turned them over one by one, and to my pleasure i found that all the bobble eyes and fuzzy noses that i had hot glued onto them about six years ago were still on them. Wow... my whole Pet Rock family was still in tact. Six years later. Their little name labels were still on them too! Apparently I had named them the family Green. Probably because of the fuzzy green nose i had adhered to the "poppa" rock. Aww and i still had baby ROCKsanne. ahaha ew so clever even in the 6th grade...

i found a whoopee cushion from devika's .. what.. 13th birthday? We went to Chuck E CHeese. Why do i still have all this stuff? And then the case that the best friends for life necklace Monica had given me came in. Wow.. that was from.. so long ago. We aren't best friends anymore. And the necklace broke.

Then i found a whole box of middle school memorabilia. It had the "Mr. Rodine" sign that Mr. Rodine had hanging up in his room. 7th grade. That was the year we had him, and the year he decided to retire, and Katie Jurado started a petition to make him stay...which didn't work. and his son Dylan kissed me. hahaha and Katrina got semi jealous, and then katrina got to babysit him. and mr. rodine gave me that sign. I think Mr. Rodine was the first man i ever loved besides my father. I don't mean to be freaky but I really think i did. And i think that scared my mom. So she wouldn't let me email him. And now he wont respond to my emails anymore... five years later.
I even found the little buildings I had made for that damn space station project in eight grade. The one where I got my first D on a project. I actually started laughing when i picked those little things up... because I know that if we were given that same project to do now, we'd be able to bullshit it up in two nights and still get an A. You learn a lot in high school that you never even think of knowing in eight grade. I also found the little snowman pin that my homeroom teacher Mr. Black had given me and Lia Myung for decorating our class window for the holidays. And then i remembered how pissed off we were that we didn't win the competition. and then i remembered being in leadership and going around judging all those windows. We so should have won.

I found the little stuffed animals and samplers we had done in Mrs. McKee's sixth grade On My Own class. I loved that class, and I loved Mrs. McKee. She loved me too. I miss her and I want to visit her. I heard she was retiring. I really hope she didnt retire. I owe her a lot. Mrs. McKee was the first person to ever tell me to share in class. One time i got back an essay that i had written in that class, and her comment at the bottom was to see her. So i saw her. We ended up crying together. She said that I wrote very well, and the things I wrote were very insightful. She really wanted me to speak up with these things in class, that the class discussions needed me. I was ... I didn't know what to do when she told me that. What do you do? We cried together. I love Mrs. McKee even today. I will always remember that.

If you know me now, I speak up A LOT in class. And I don't just say anything either. And I have Mrs. McKee to thank. I wonder if she knows that.

Thinking of Mrs McKee leads me to think of Mr. Reutzel. He was another great man. I wonder how he'd feel knowing that I'm going to major in Biology.

I really hope they all remember me.

Going on, I found a bunch of fake money and coins... ahh.. memoirs from my brother and my daily trips to "ImagineLand" during the summers of our highly imaginative childhoods. Apparently... judging from my makeshift checkbooks from... i cant even tell what these things really are.. my name was "Mel Brooke Lia Ruize" and i was a ... Fashion Designer, Restaurant Owner, Publisher/Editor extraordinaire... and i also had a cooking show. I remember that now, i used to show people how to pour cereal every morning. Hahahaha. Wow. And I made four times the money my brother did. Oh the perks of being the older sibling. Apparently I had written up some Imagineland laws. I realize, I really was a clever little shiet back then. The last law of Imagineland was "10. Follow the laws."

Haha ew.

Ok. I found a Hunchback of Notre Dame coin purse that just blew me away. I bought this at the 99 cent store... before i even lived in diamond bar. That means... before even the third grade. Thats... more than eight years ago. It could even be a decade ago. I had never even used it.

So
At first I thought, should I put this in the give this away pile? And then I thought... wow... look at all of this. I had actually gone into this whole ordeal with the intention of throwing everything away.

Why would I ever do that. Just by looking through two shoeboxes of "stuff" and "junk".. i had gone through a time capsule of the last eight to ten years of my life. That's something.

I'm never throwing anything away again.

Well I guess i never did before.

I'm just reminding myself to never throw anything away again.

And suggesting to you the same...


So... in the pile of rubble. I found a letter to myself. We had written it freshman year in Ms. Canfield's english class. Now she is Mrs. Moskovitz. And she doesnt remember me. Even though she loved the final project Hayley and I did and had used it to decorate her room the year after. They were stick puppets of romeo and juliet with celebrities heads glued on. Ashton Kutcher was Romeo. I forget who Juliet was. Not important.

Anyway. I think I'll type the letter up here later. Its really funny how everything played out. And the letter was written on September 10. How strange to think that the day after, would become 9-11.

Hmmhh

Life.