Nostalgia coming your way...

When I was in NY a couple of weekends ago, my mother sprung a most-unpleasant last-minute task on me: "Clean out the closet in your old bedroom. Make two piles: what you are taking with you and trash." Keep in mind that that closet is the just about the only place in the house where I still have things. And that she dropped this chore on me at 9:00 on Saturday night, when I had hours worth of work to do and an unexpected sleepover with my nine-year-old niece. You can imagine how happy I was. Ultimately, I threw out a ton of stuff and brought back quite a few boxes to WV, including several filled with all the notes and cards from my childhood and up through college. I haven't even started to look through these yet, but I have found a gem or two already. In the coming weeks, I'll go through these and post some of the good ones.

First, though, something that isn't a letter or a note at all: a collage my sister Tara made for me circa 1990/1991, when she was in college and I (apparently) was into well...some funny stuff. I remember thinking that this collage was just about the coolest thing my much-cooler older sister ever made for me, especially since she didn't give it to me for any special occasion: it was just because. Back then, I thought Tara was the epitome of awesome (and I still do, of course), but we didn't spend much time together. I mean, we were seven years apart--an hard age difference to overcome when you are younger. Plus Erin, clocking in at ten years younger, was infinitely cuter and a lot more fun for Tara. So when she give me this collage, I hung it with pride.

If you click on it, you should be able to get a better view. Highlights include: the boys of 90210*, Tom Cruise, and U2. I love the phrases, too: "You've got it....Together!", "The most popular boys" (a hybrid construction), "get a kick out of life," and "red hot." Some of them are probably wishful thinking characteristics on my sister's part, including "fashion," "elegant," and "chic." It was also originally in a frame (but I have no idea what happened to that).

Anyway, when I told Tara I found the collage, she had no memory of making it but did order that I could not throw it out. She even said I ought to blog about it, so here you go.

*I had a major crush on Luke Perry and was quite devoted to that show--until Brenda left and Kelly and Dylan hooked up. Then I was done.