Number Five - 40 @ 40

This is My Box

So there was this box filled with artwork and crafts from the first 7 years of my education.  My mom had saved memories and then stored them in the attic with a myriad of other "stuff".  The box sat in my dinning room/homeschool room for over a month.  Each day I would walk passed it more times than I can count, and each day I told myself I will get to it.  I really cannot express the anxiety I felt when I looked at it.  It was potentially filled with memories where I didn't want to emotionally travel. I am not suggesting that the box would have letters from bullies, and diary entries that described heartache.  However, I was convinced the box would require if not one, two, bottles of wine.

On Mother's Day I found myself curious as to the contents of my box.  Maybe there would be sweet drawings from a little girl to her Mommy.  So I pulled the box into our living room (bad mistake because some blue paint came off artwork and stained the carpet) and began to remove items one at a time.

To my surprise, I really enjoyed looking back at the artwork I had made.  The only things in the box I recognized were a couple reports I did in 6th grade - Francisco Coronado and Louis Leaky.  I worked very hard on both, and never forgot all the effort spent at the library getting information (which I was a wiz at because I aced the library card catalog unit) and making copies on the copy machine (which I learned how to use because I was the lunch helper in the school office).  I realized that in the midst of the hell experienced by my piers, I did learn valuable life skills I still use today (that is except the card catalog, which lets be honest, we didn't see the Internet coming, did we?).

Here are a few of the items I found in my box:

One of the more amusing elements of having the box in my dining room was that each time I passed it I sang "This is my box, This is my box..." from Amahl and the Night Visitors.  This little gem was introduced to me in 12th Grade Music Humanities (oh how I wish they never eliminated the program at my high school).  I remember it so well that the Ladybugs and I watched it on YouTube before Christmas.

(start at 2:37 if you want to hear just the box song)

Number Four - 40 @ 40

If you want to view all posts, goto: 40 @ 40

I do not like birds.  I don't mind looking at birds, or having one perch on my arm.  But dive bombing, like in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, is so not my cup of tea.

Maybe it is just the whole flying and landing on me and pecking at me.  Not completely sure what exactly is the bottom line.  However, going into a room where birds are flying at me is not something I ever EVER wanted to do. 

Last summer at the Renaissance Festival, Evie wanted to go into a parakeet house with a stick of bird food.  Thankfully she didn't need to be in there with an adult, because I told her I would NOT be coming inside with her.  However, this past weekend the Ladybugs and I were at Kalahari.  For those who don't know what that is, Kalahari is a water/theme park.  One of the attractions was an outdoor Safari.  If getting up close and personal wasn't enough, we could pay to feed the animals.  One of the animal attractions was hundreds and hundreds of parakeets in a caged area.  They called this getting up close and personal with the parakeets.  However, unlike the parakeet attraction at the Renaissance Festival the adult HAD to accompany the child under 12.  Cue sweat glands and heart palpitations. My mother flat out refused.  So it was my opportunity to face this irrational fear of mine.

There were two doors between the main area and the caged parakeets.  Evie and I got in the first caged area. Then as I was gingerly opening the second door, some of the parakeets escaped and I barely got in. Evie is still between the two doors at this point, and my mom and Zoe were in the main area. I was now stuck in this main are with hundreds and hundreds of hungry parakeets. Here is a very unflattering picture of what I looked like:

Zoe got the zookeeper and he helped us with the parakeets.  Evie came in with me and it seemed that I took control of the situation. She was thrilled.  And I...I was soaking wet in sweat, but quite proud that I was able to successfully face this fear.