A Box of Treasure

I was cleaning Mom's kitchen yesterday afternoon and almost threw away a box of treasure. It was with some other boxes piled up on the floor under the telephone table. The other boxes really were trash: empty or full of junk. I almost didn't look in the last box before it went in the garbage can, but I'm so glad I opened it. I don't think the shoebox itself belonged to my Grandmother Nell, but the contents surely had.

It was full of old photographs as well as some not so old. There was a little photo album with "Grandma's Brag Book" on the cover. Inside it, the first picture was of me, probably just a few months old, in my birthday suit. Mom and Dad obviously didn't have a bear skin rug. I was on the changing table. There was my first Christmas, several Olan Mills portraits at various ages, some school pictures of some of my aunt's children, a wonderful picture of Paw-paw Floyd, and a lady that I vaguely remember as my great-grandmother Leonard (her last name, I'll have to look up her given name.)

There were prom pictures from 1956 of my mom and dad looking sharp: he, in a white dinner jacket sporting a red carnation and she, in a light colored lace and net creation that probably had hoops under it. What a beautiful couple!

There were pictures even older than that...pictures from the 1940's of my dad as a little tyke. I think my favorites have to be of Nell and Floyd together. You can tell how they felt about each other by the way they touched, the way his arm wraps around her, the way her hand is on his shoulder. I wish I had known them as young adults. Paw-paw Floyd was a joy to be around when I knew him. I bet that was nothing compared to him in his 20's. What a looker!

There were also pictures of my brother and me growing up: in Halloween costumes, band uniforms, Easter outfits, opening Christmas presents. I found a blackmail picture of my brother: k he's about 4 years old, wearing a pink bunny suit, complete with ears. To top it off, or should I say at the bottom of it, he was wearing cowboy boots.

Most recent were pictures of my eldest as an infant; just her, none of M or L or my brother's boys. "Mo" Nell, as she wanted the great grandkids to call her, lived to see all 5 them. Ours is a small family. My dad was her only child; my brother and I, her only grandchildren; his 2 boys and my 3 girls, the only great grandchildren.

Some of these pictures I had seen before, but others were new to me. I'm so glad I found them. When I get back to my office, I'll scan and post some of them. The bunny in boots will definitely make the cut!