10 Year Mints

Every December my grade school holds the highly anticipated Santa Shop. Parishioners donate gift-like items and the school children come in and buy little trinkets to give to their families for Christmas. A lot of what I bought for my family was total crap; little statues and other knickknack items contributed the majority of the volume, but for ~2 bucks it wasn't a bad deal. I think the best gift I ever found was a jewelry box that I got for my mom when I was in the 4th grade. She kept jewelry in it, but mostly she put anything that happened to be crammed in her pockets for the day. It's also where she stored her money. I have no idea how, but she always had a fat wad of 20s in that box. Maybe it was from social security or her pension, but that was where she got money when my friends and I would go to the corner market and get lunch or to the pharmacy where they sold Beanie Babies.


It's been over nine years since my mom died. My dad, the practical guy that he is, is selling the house next year and wanted me to go through things that she had and figure out what I wanted. A lot of it was religious paraphernalia that I'm not prepared to deal with yet, but I found her jewelry box shoved in the corner of a dresser drawer and took that immediately. I didn't really go through it because I was looking for other loot to cart back with me. I brought it with me, mostly, to clean it out and use it as a jewelry box of my own; something that had significance because I was using my mom's jewelry box, but as I opened it, I realized that it is basically a time capsule of my childhood and something that is too dear to be taken apart.

I found an 11 year old receipt from K-Mart, something that is non-existent where I live. I found another receipt from JoAnn fabrics, and from the faded lettering, I think it was for a project about a cell that I did in 7th grade. There was a significant amount of change, along with a multitude of buttons, a couple necklaces, and some mints that are nearly nine years old. I also found a couple unmatched earrings leftover from a raid on our home from a cousin that had a drug habit. I also found a 20 dollar bill. It's Canadian, but it's so fitting that it's in there. I found another small jewelry box that my brother gave to her, and much to my surprise, there was the mate to one of the earrings! It's like a gift from my mom. Where some people have shoe boxes filled with pictures and letters, I'll always have this jewelry box. And mints that are a decade old.

More food posts in the *near* future, I promise! :)