The old time days...
I stepped into a time warp recently. I was cleaning out some closets in my family home, and I uncovered things that I had put away and forgotten about. I spent a very enjoyable (and dusty) day looking through old letters, cards, newspaper clippings and photos. Among the items was my first diary, started when I was 8 — it was a birthday present from my older sister — and I smiled while reading the entries. It detailed my 8-year old life for a few months, then I got distracted... I found cards and letters from old friends, who are mostly still in my life. And there were photos which I shared with some others and we all exclaimed at how young we were, and how life was so much easier. I also unearthed some of my earlier writings, dating back to my early childhood. There was a poem that I had written for a competition when I was 9. I won a copy of Russian Fairy Tales in a beautiful illustrated book, which I reread many times. (All those Ivans being sent on impossible missions!)