Echoes of the Soul

This weekend, James came over to help me sort through this house. We got my room and closet pretty much done, and James took a couple big boxes to Goodwill. This week, I'll sort through my books and decide which ones I want to keep and which ones I want to donate. Next weekend, we'll tackle my mom's clothes, which is the really big job. And we'll help Joe finish up his room, too.

After we did the work, we relaxed a little and took Joe to lunch. It was a nice weekend.

During the closet sifting, I found a couple old friends.

This is Blueberry Muffin. When Aidan was very small, she picked this out at a garage sale. There were lots of nicer, newer stuffed animals, but she wanted this one. I'm proud of her for that. :)

As Aidan grew older, she grew apart from Blueberry Muffin, but to my surprise, I grew closer to the button-eyed bear who'd survived open heart surgery. Blueberry Muffin has escaped several garage sales and thrift shop donations. There are just some things I can't part with.

And then there's this bunny. It was also Aidan's, and I know it has a name, but I can't remember what it is. I think it's Oatmeal, though. Maybe Aidan was hungry as a kid, to name her stuffed animals after food. Lol.

And then, in the very bottom of a box, I found a couple of my old dolls from when I was very small. My grandmother and grandfather got me these on a couple of their many trips to Europe. I don't know how they ended up in such poor shape...I remember them being pristinely displayed on my shelf when I was growing up, but I guess the many moves across the country and back have taken their toll. Maybe there's a way I can restore them to reflect a little more of their former glory. I think that would be a fun project.

I have several other dolls still in their original condition, like this Japanese doll on a music box. When you wind up the music box, the doll turns in slow circles.

And I found this cool little cedar box--inside it was a button, some stamps and a piece of paper. Lol.

I found a couple more of my old journals, too. One was labeled simply "Feelings Journal," and I don't remember writing any of it, but I must have. One was this page, which I still identify with today:

And I found a poetry journal I thought I'd lost...

Yeah, they're a little silly and naive, but that's who I was and somewhere inside me, those words still echo in my soul.

And on the few pages that don't have poetry, there are leaves, collected at various times. These look like ones I may have found on a fall day somewhere:

And on a couple pages,  silly drawings that probably only mean something to me:

I remember I liked to draw the tiny little flowers all close together:

It's fun sometimes to go through these keepsakes. It's interesting to see what differences, if any, there are between the me of my youth and the me of today.

Anyway, have a good Monday, everyone. I'm going to do my best to make someone smile today.