When my brother and I left our mother’s home, nay even when we bought homes of our own, we neglected the golden rule of “Moving Out.” We did not take our stuff with us from mom’s basment. Recently, my grandmother’s belonging’s joined mine and my brother’s in the basement and mom called a halt to the whole thing this spring. It was time for us to come get our stuff. All of it.
This weekend we arrived to take on the task.
First to go was my entire auxilliary kitchen cabinet system of milkcrates from my first apartment. It now resides in the dumpster in my mother’s driveway. There is not a milkcrate in this world that can call me mommy.
Also in the dumpster are my brother’s stuffed animals. He vociferously denies ever having owned a stuffy, as I call them, but I can assure you that the green dinosaur with big teeth and wee claws did not belong to me.
I kept 5 boxes of keepsakes including my diaries from middle school and my Barry Manilow albums. Wham! albums, too.
On to some more items:
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“Hello Virginia! I’m Sonya from Harrisonburg and I like bean bags and rollerskating”
Here’s the peach dress I wore in the Little Miss Virginia beauty pageant when I was 11. I almost threw it out but what the hell. I was a goddamned beauty pageant contestant once and I don’t think that’s something I’m going to be able to say about the next 35 years of my life. |
| My favorite stuffy from middle childhood. My third grade teacher allowed us to bring in our stuffed animals so the class could vote on a name. Blog reader, meet Jane. I thought Jane was very stern and sometimes I was a bit afraid of her. All of my stuffies had distinct personalities. |
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This is an outfit I received from the husband of a friend of mine when I was active in the Muslim community in high school. He was a good and decent man. I socialized with him and his wife and they were kind to me. Later, he was imprisoned for taking part in the first attempt to blow up the World Trade Center. I don’t know what happened between the time I knew him and his radical years.
Did I wear this outfit? Of course I did. I adored it. |
| Here’s my riding hat. I took riding lessons for about two years. It even has a purple lining. |
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Here’s the trophy I won for Girl of the Year 1979 when I was 7 at the neighborhood park. This means I was good all summer and didn’t hit anybody or steal anybody’s monopoly money or push anyone off the swings. It may also have something to do with the fact that me and my brother (who won boy of the year) were two of the only white children who played at that park. And this was the South, first, last, and always. |
Plum Librarian LLC 
This completely cracked me up. I was also in a “scholarship competition” in my youth. I can show you the presence and composure routine sometime. 🙂
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While trying to find some info on my Bersee line I entered Simeon Rocheleau into google and found your website. What is your name and would you help me fill in some missing spaces?
Wesley and Eliza Marie Bersee is our common ancestor.
Ellen Jane md Wheeler Branch Southwick, my father’s mother was Dollie Louisa Southwick.
I located Dennis J Quiggle in Olathe, KS just yesterday and hope to hear from him as a neighbor said she would take the message to them. Their listed phone is not working.
Thank you, it was wonderful reading about Lucy and Esther. A few years ago someone sent me pictures of them, not a relative, but someone who had grown up with them that I accidentally found on the internet. I am not very good at finding things on purpose, but accidentally I do a fair job.
Thank you.
Arleta Galloway
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