Divine Providence?

When I was visiting in Indiana, I went through some of my old things that were stored in my mom's attic. I brought a few of them back with me to Florida.

It was funny (and a little mind boggling) revisiting these items I thought were so important that they must be kept or sandwiched between the pages of a scrap book for all time.

I did not write much detailed information to accompany these items in the scrap book. It could have shined a light on why I felt they were so worthy of saving at the time. Hey, I was only 14 and was not thinking about what my 48 year old self wouldn't be able to remember when it came to our priceless memories.

The Colonel and I were looking through my scrap book together one day and one item in particular happened to be very interesting to us.

It was a yellow booklet I had gotten when I went to 4-H camp back in the summer of 1976.

The Colonel was also in 4-H when he was young. Though we were both in 4-H, we lived in different counties and never met one another.

In the past we've talked about our individual 4-H experiences; the meetings, projects, county fair exhibits, state fair exhibits, float building and of course camp.

We often wondered if we had gone to camp at the same time.

The Colonel remembers a Jr. Leader for his little group at camp named Kit (my sister perhaps?). He remembers walking and talking with her during one of their camp outings.

We opened and began reading the yellow booklet...amongst the itineraries (vespers at 9:30 p.m.), classes (crafts, boating, fishing, archery, etc.) and motivational sayings we found the cabin numbers and the names of those assigned to them.

My sister Kit was assigned to cabin #5 as a Jr. Leader. I was a Jr. Leader in cabin #2. The Colonel was a camper assigned to cabin #10.

So, the Kit The Colonel remembered, turned out to be my sister after all and we did go to 4-H camp at the same time. I do not recall seeing The Colonel during the six days of camp; I was a Jr. Leader for a different little group and being 15 years old then, I liked the older boys (The Colonel is two years younger than I am).

Is it Divine Providence that The Colonel and I are now husband and wife? In 1976 were we put on life's same path in hopes of one day finally bumping into one another along the way? I think the answer is yes. We would eventually bump into each other in 1984...and the rest, as they say, is history.

The following are some of the other "treasures" I brought back with me.

I know...I loved Troll dolls when I was young. They are so ugly they're cute. I had a whole family of Trolls once, a Daddy, Mommy and Baby.

Some medals I was awarded.

A little metal box I got one year for Christmas from my maternal grandmother. It was filled with delicious caramel candies. Now I store my medals and other keepsakes in it...

Like this jewelry that was hand painted by my mother.

I also brought home my letter sweater I received in high school. I was in band for four years, three of those in marching band. I played the trombone. I wanted to bring it home to show Spud. He lettered in NJROTC.

Spud's school colors are the same as mine were and both our high schools begin with a "C". (For those who crave useless pieces of trivia like I do).

It has been fun to revisit my youth through these things I held dear at one time. They are important; they are part of who I am today. I also think it is pretty "freaky-cool" that I kept something that had my future husband's name in it along with mine.

The 48 year old me is trying to give more attention to the details when it comes to anything I deem worthy of saving now, so that the 82 year old me won't have to wonder why they were saved in the first place, when she goes through our priceless memories years from now.