misty fruit snack colored memories

I decided to bite the bullet and vacuum out my car yesterday afternoon. I was motivated in part by my potentially needing to give rides to some of the girls at Young Women's last night and I cringed at the thought of what we might find under the car seats. What was visible was bad enough! And with a real live garage to do it in - not just the parking outside our old townhouse - it seemed a good day to do it.

I feel I have been able to stave off the heartache of leaving a much-loved place and dear friends by keeping busy and immersing myself in getting our new life set up. But I unexpectedly felt some pangs as I waded through the drifts of goldfish crumbs and cheesestick wrappers and ancient fruit snacks. A few items that prompted some misty-eyed reflection:

• a tag from the big calendar we used for Eve's Joy School class last year. (Sorry Joy Moms! I had "April" all along!)
• a drawing Eve had colored in her Primary class last fall
• ticket stubs to the Baltimore Aquarium from our "5 After 5" adventure last winter
• the little gold metallic sprinkles that exploded all over the front seat of our car when I accidentally upended a plate of sugar cookies on the way home from our friends' house on Christmas Eve.
• my Giant supersaver card
• an old program from the Laurel Ward

I think the prize for longevity goes to a tupperware I found under the front seat that I was supposed to give back to a friend at church...two years ago! (Sorry Amy K! If you thought Judy stole your tupperware, she didn't - she gave it to dependable me to return to you. If you want your purple-lidded tupperware back, let me know.)

My car may be clean of all these memories, but my heart isn't. To all my dear Marylanders, I send my love!