The Book Of Me, Prompt #8: Time Capsule

Prompt #8: Time Capsule

For this post, we are supposed to create either a literal or figurative time capsule that reflects either ourselves or a loved one OR that represents a certain time or event.  I have chosen to create a time capsule for myself, since through this Book of Me, I am trying to capture who I am for my children and hopefully grandchildren someday.  For now, it will just be a figurative capsule; perhaps in the future, I will make it into a physical time capsule.

When I imagine a time capsule, I think of a box or container - something that's not very big and that will not hold many items.  So, I am envisioning things that would fit in maybe a large shoe/boot box.  

1.) A compression stocking:  It is something that I wear on my leg all day every day of my life and it represents a physical 'disability' (hate that word) that I have had to deal with my entire life.  (You can read more about that in this post.)  

2.) University degrees:  My children don't know me as anything other than a mom, and I want them to realize that I once had other ambitions and dreams.  Becoming a meteorologist was something that I had wanted to do since I was about ten years old, and my degrees represent the fulfillment of that goal.  At this point, it doesn't look as if I will ever work in that profession again, but I want my descendants to know that I loved the weather and climate enough to spend six years of my life formally studying it.

My Master's Degree

3.) A USB drive of all my genealogy research and family photos: Since giving up my career to become a mom, family history research has been my hobby and passion, and I am very proud of what I have learned and collected over the past few years.  I'd also put my blog posts on the same drive, because I've spent countless hours writing about the stories of my and my husband's family and I really want my descendants to read those someday.

4.) Usernames and passwords for Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and 'cloud' storage accounts: Recently, my husband and I were reading through some of our old Facebook posts from several years ago, and it was wonderful how they really helped us remember the times when our kids were younger and the struggles/joys we were experiencing as new parents. 

5.) Grandmother's rosary: I was trying to come up with some sort of memento or symbol to represent me as a mother, which is what encompasses most of my time and energy these days.  I was also struggling to find a way to include the fact that I am a Catholic, but my recent struggles with my faith make me reluctant to put something as powerful as a Bible in the capsule.  So, for my time capsule, I am going to include my grandmother's rosary. Obviously, it is a family heirloom that belonged to a dear loved one, but it also represents the Blessed Mother. During my very difficult pregnancy with my son, I prayed a rosary every day, asking for Mary's intercession.  My son and I made it through the pregnancy just fine.

Grandma Bellan's Rosary

6.) My AAA membership card (American Automobile Association), my passport, and our U.S. National Parks stamp book: I love to travel, and thankfully, I married a man who loves it as much as I do.  We love visiting national parks and monuments.  We bought this little book on our honeymoon; every time you visit a national park, monument, trail, landmark, etc, you get a stamp with the date on it. It's a great way for remembering where you've been and where you still need to visit.  

U.S. National Parks Passport Stamp Book

7.) A tea bag and an empty cold cereal box:  I have at least one cup of strong black hot tea every day, even in the heat of the summer.  And if there were one type of food I could survive on for the rest of my life, it would be cold cereal.  I sometimes eat it for dinner, and, yes, my husband makes fun of me.

8.) A photo or postcard showing Cleveland, Ohio.  I haven't lived there in 15 years, but it's where I grew up and where most of my family still lives.  It will always be my hometown.

Cleveland, Ohio (source: Wikimedia Commons)

9.) Knitting needles or one of my small knitting creations: I love to knit, and don't get enough time to really do it properly these days.  I can see myself getting back into it more as my kids get older.  (And, not to toot my own horn too much, but I was pretty good at it!)

A hat that I made for my son

10.) A pair of thick, warm socks: My feet are always cold. Even in the summertime, I have to wear a pair of socks to bed.

11.) A list of my favorite books: I love to read.  I obviously can't put all my favorite books into the time capsule, but I would make a list of my favorites and put that in instead.  (And I really am going to make this list, thanks to this prompt.)  It's going to consist of a lot of 'classics,' but also some historical non-fiction, biographies, and fantasy/young adult dystopia.  I hope my children embrace reading for fun as much as I do.

12.) A USB drive or a CD filled with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.  Now, I love many different genres of music, including a lot of modern-day pop and rock music, but Bach's music is just beauty and emotion in musical form.  In my eyes, it is what music should be, it is how music should make you feel, if that makes sense.