It’s taken more than a year! But, with the climbing and lifting help from our children and the Loomis family, I’ve sorted through the mountain of stored memorabilia in our basement and garage. A monumental achievement!

While sorting, I set aside items that I felt our family members might really want to see and remember. During the last week I sorted that collection into individual boxes for each child. There were hospital armbands and footprints, dance recital programs, report cards, graduation programs, and lots of photographs. There were letters and cards written to and from extended family, and I even packed in the treasured homemade cards given to me when the children were small. I had many tender moments as items reminded me of struggles and triumphs that are past.

At the end of the project I felt tired, but also a deep and hard to describe gratitude and peace. It was as if I’d been given an opportunity to review a lifetime of decisions and actions and see the results in the lives of my family. 

I really caught a glimpse of the reality that a lifetime, and possibly eternity, is made of many, many moments. And that the little expressions of love and caring matter so much more than the costly trips and gifts that we’d like to give our children. 

The sense of accomplishment I feel from completing the long task is tiny compared to the joy I feel seeing that my little ones are capable adults raising the next generation and building their own mountains of memories.