The box of "junk" and the Hawaiian lei

Ever since I have set off the fury of cleaning amongst certain friends (I refer you to blogs from T-L and John), I've been thinking of a particular box full of stuff that has been moving with me as I moved from home, to my first apartment, to my next apartment, and then finally to this house. This box contains usually what I refer to as "junk" - stuff I never go looking for, will likely never need and should just throw out already. But I have a tendency to hang onto things.

I was in Hawaii when I was 10 (as part of my trip around the world) and one of the things I brought back was a Hawaiian lei. I was pretty sure I still had it, and knew that if I did, it would be in this box. With the luau fast approaching, I really wanted to find this lei... it would mean a lot to have that for the party. So I went digging in the box of "junk". Unfortunately, I didn't find the lei, but here is a sampling of some of the "junk" I am hanging onto:

• old 45 of Olivia Newton John's "Tied Up"
• My first (but not only!) Thesaurus
• The first and second scarves I ever knit
• The first practice piece of embroidery I ever did
• The racecar I made in shop class in jr. high
• Every plastic bracelet I ever made, back when they were the in thing
• 3 sets of dominoes
• Various pins, including a pin that is a strawberry ice cream cone
• The instructions for my alarm clock, which I still have in my bedroom and use every day. Dated 1985.
• Autograph book, mostly full of signatures from elementary & jr high school. Only "famous person" signature: Steve Anthony
• An acorn weight from an old cuckoo clock
• A dinky car of a USPS cube van (which actually says US Mail, as was the style at the time)
  
• Swatch of purple satin that would become the fabric for the dresses we had made as bridesmaids in my aunt's 1989 wedding
• 2 sets of flowers I must have worn in my hair at someone's wedding
• 2 figurines I don't remember ever not having
• Gr. 5 school ID
• My old walkman, which is around 20 years old and no longer works
• Slides of Parliament
  
• Beach ball from the 1985 Canada Games
• Various postcards from my Mom when she was away on trips, either telling me to be good or saying she knew I was being good.
  

At first I laughed at all of these things I have been hanging onto for most of my life, wondering why in hell I still had this box of crazy stuff. But you know what? It isn't crazy stuff. It isn't junk. It's history; my history. I'm glad I still have it. It made me smile, laugh, and remember some fun times in my life. If you have a box full of "junk" like this, pull it out someday in the near future. It will make you smile, I guarantee it. And if you don't, come on over to my house. I'm sure there's something in there you could have a good laugh at (I am downloading "Tied Up" right now).


This still leaves me without my "vintage" lei. If it's not in this box, I am not sure where it could be... other than maybe my mother is hanging onto it for me. She never responded to my last email. Do I write her about the lei, and risk stirring the fire?