Show and Tell #18

Before I begin Friday's Show and Tell, I wanted to thank a sweet new friend of mine- who also is named Tammy- for giving me not one, but two awards recently!





Her blog name couldn't be more perfect for her- Country Girl at Home- because she presents her lovely family and country home with such a gracious spirit,
And though we come from different parts of the country, I think we already feel like kindred spirits.
Thank you so much, Tammy!

I will hopefully be "paying it forward" by awarding these in my next post!





And now for Show and Tell!

This week I wanted to show another little peek into my past.

I have managed to save so much from my childhood, but today's item isn't my usual toy or stuffed animal, but one of my jewelry boxes which was given to me when I was very young. There is nothing ornately beautiful about it, really...



I believe it was given to me from my Uncle L. (my mom's brother) and at the time, I didn't appreciate it very much because it wasn't pretty and feminine, like my other little jewelry box. That one had a beautiful ballerina that spun around to delicate music every time I opened it...but not this one.

Still, I guess I thought this little box was a good place to stash a few little keepsakes.
I hadn't opened it in years, and when I did today, it was fun to see what greeted me...


I fumbled through the contents...and saw all these letters...



I soon realized that almost all of them were written to me while I was either away at a Girl Scout camp, or from those I met there after I came home.

I can tell you, I do remember bits and pieces of that camp. I think I was around eleven or twelve.
And I did not have such a wonderful time there!
I was SO homesick and some of the girls were not all that wholesome for being Girl Scouts, sad to say.
But I did make a few friends, along with some wonderful teen camp counselors, and some of these letters were from them.

If you were a teen counselor, by the way, you got to have a fun "camp name"...such as "Chipmunk", "Pooh", "Daisy"... and most of these gals were so sweet, which made that time bearable.

Also in my green jewelry box, were also countless letters from my mom, who faithfully wrote me almost every day. I think she understood my homesickness and tried to keep the tone upbeat...she even put little G.S. logo stickers on them!



On the little top shelf of my box are several stamps that I had collected...I wasn't a true stamp collector, by any means, so just have a few. In this box were nine and I pulled out a few at random to take a picture...


And it's a little hard to see, but the one on the left was a Bicentennial stamp.
And yes, postage was then up to ten cents...crazy inflation times.

A lot of the others were off of envelopes sent to me from my pen pal, who was my age and lived in Iceland. Iceland! The other side of the world!




Through opening my simple, plain little green jewelry box, I open a tiny window into my past...with pockets of memories that might have been lost even to me if it wasn't for these little reminders.
Of penpals... summer camp...Girl Scouts...
and a mom who faithfully penned a letter each day, walked them to the mailbox, and most likely prayed countless prayers for her little girl who was miles away.

For more Show and Tell participants, visit Kelli at There is No Place Like Home!