Today was my day to help mom clean her attic like I had promised. Mom was getting up there in age, and while she was physically able to handle most of what was needed to be done up there, it probably looked overwhelming to her. To me it just looked like a lot of stuff that should be shoveled out the window. Okay I gave my word and I will be nice.

I almost dreaded going up there, not knowing which of my own memories I might come across. Was I really ready for this? I had grown up in this house so there would be a lot to deal with. Only doing it would tell me if these were memories I would want to stir up.

Trying to decide where to begin, I stumble across a beautiful jewelry box. Ornate in its markings, I know this was not something of mine. Gingerly opening the box, my attention is caught by an antique engagement ring. Having never seen it before, I take it over to mom and ask her about it. She responds with her own tearful question: had she ever told me about her first love?

When she has finished speaking I realize that there are parts of her life that I was not aware of. I wondered how many other secrets she harbored in her heart. I realized at that moment that helping her in the attic might get me more than having a sore back. The next box beckoned me on.

Well here seemed to be a box of my things from days gone by. What memories would this bring up? Here is my old treasures box where I kept things that were important to me. I had left this box behind when I left for college, thinking the others might laugh at me had I taken it. I opened it up and the first thing to grab my attention was a pair of rhodium earrings. I had received those as a graduation present. They were just as pretty today as they had been all those years ago. I placed them in my shirt pocket and moved on.

Winter was written all over the next box I grabbed. Opening it up I found girls sweatshirts that my sister and I had outgrown years ago. Mom must have placed them up here one year and then left them when she realized we would have outgrown them by the following winter. They could be donated to the thrift shop.

As the day progressed mom and I traveled back and forth over the years gone past. Each of us having different memories from the various items we came across. It was a good day and while we did not get as much accomplished as we had hoped to, we did enjoy our time together, going down memory road.