Pandora's Box

Somehow as I get older and I meet the adult I am today

I look back and wonder what happened to the child I was.

Where did I change or get off track?

Did I consciously decide to make the changes or did life sweep me off my feet?

Probably a little of both.    Sometimes looking back to my childhood years is frightening to me.  I was loved, surely, but my family was as weird as most families are.... and I emerged with as much baggage as everyone does..... so I made (and continue to make) changes to create the life I have and/or want.

But how much fun went out with the necessary changes?

There are many things about me as a girl that have changed....

I no longer particularly want to be a marine biologist....

or an international legal whiz.....

though the idea of being a translator still intrigues me.  I used to love to work with languages... was fluent in French, functional but SLOW in Spanish and know a smattering of German and Japanese.  I am not sure where I would be today :-).  Getting certified to teach ESL is an idea that has stuck with me if I am ever in a position to use it!

I no longer am a lonely isolated child with a lot of hours to fill....

though I STILL have my nose in a book and do some form of needlework most days!

But I wonder about all the other things I used to LOVE to do in those hours.... no internet meant that I had to do other things :-)

As a part of the 'unfinished item' quest, I am uncovering a few stashes of treasures I haven't quite had the heart to toss....

***like my dollhouse furniture....  I haven't done any dollhouse work since I was a girl... but I used to LOVE to make furniture and needlework decorations for my dollhouse.  Once, as an adult, I joined one of those kit-of-the-month clubs and I have a box of a year's worth of the KITS stashed away.  I never found the TIME to make them or the HEART to get rid of them..

***some cross stitch that I packed away when I was 40 and my eyes started to go (and, mind you, I also had an infant and a toddler in the house!)

***2 needlework kits that have ended up in my hands as a result of accepting donated yarn and projects... I used up or gave away most everything... but these two kits are of a type and style that I used to love.  One is crewel embroidery and one is needlepoint... two forms of needlework I did a lot as a girl.

***And then there is painting and drawing.  I no longer have any supplies for them.... but I wonder if I would enjoy it again...

Certainly it will be at least another year before I work through enough of the ongoing projects to get to a place where I can add these "Pandora Box" treasures to my list.....

BUT what a joy to find them and dream over them again....

You DO remember what was inside Pandora's Box, don't you?  Down at the very bottom?