A Trip Down Memory Lane

How nostalgic are you?

Four years ago we had to work on a project for my son’s eighth grade class.  It was a timeline of his life from the moment he was born until he reached the age of 13.  As I dug through countless pictures, I couldn’t help but get nostalgic.  My little boy was growing up!  Today, I watched the season finale of Home Improvement which, of course, consisted of a trip down memory lane and it brought back memories of that day four years ago when my son and I had own little trip down memory lane.

My son decided on a theme.  He wanted to capture all his firsts…first time his rode a bike, when he got his first hair cut, when his first tooth fell out, and so on and so forth.  But I had another idea.  How about the first time he visited each state?!

“Do you have pictures of all those dates, mom?” my son asked.  “Yes,” I said as I pulled out a big blue Tupperware container with pictures.  All the pictures were grouped by theme and placed into white envelopes, as I had intentions of making themed scrapbooks, but never quite got around to it.

“I didn’t know you had this many pictures mom,” my son commented.

Not only did I have that many pictures, but I soon realized I had lots and lots of work ahead of me.  After three hours, we found the first time he went to Arizona, Nevada, Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Tennessee. But more importantly, we had the first time he ever visited California…the day he was born.

“I look like an alien,” my son laughed.  He had been born by emergency C-section after 36 hours of hard labor, his head came out a bit deformed, but it didn’t stay that way—thank God.

Then I found the cutest picture of my handsome young man, and commented on it by saying, “Whatever happened to this little boy? You were so cute and fun.”

“Hey, I resent that!” my son laughed.

To which I commented, “You’ve gotten a bit sassy in your old age.”  “Mom,” my son said giggling.  “I have always had a mouth, don’t you remember when I was five years old taking Karate and I told that 16 year-old that he was doing his stances wrong—during his test?  I know it’s true because you even have it on tape and I saw it!”

“Oh my goodness, I forgot all about that,” I said as we giggled and looked through more and more photos.

Before we knew it, the day had turned into night and a school project that started out with lots of procrastination turned into a day of fun—where old memories were met with new memories.

Take the time this weekend to add a little laughter, and quite possibly some embarrassing moments to your family time.  Pull out your photos and start your own trip down memory lane.

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