I've got skeletons in my closet...

...ok not really, but there were other surprises. A couple days ago my mom wanted Bonnie, Aaron and me to do something productive since we were home for a snow day. We decided to organize the basement closet, which was choc-full of childhood memories. It was a blast sorting through old board games, books and toys. Bonnie and I even gave Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur a whirl. It was so amazing how much we have held onto: Books about a bear named Button, identical naked baby dolls named "Liv" and "Liv New and Improved" (one had curlier hair), tattered barbies, a Babysitters' Club board game, Dear Chelsea (a book written with letters from young girls to the then daughter-of-the-chief Chelsea Clinton), old school notebooks and scrapbook pages, poems and anti-drug declarations we wrote in fifth grade, my dad's sequined wrestling one-piece from 1973. While these things have little worth to us now, there were also treasures of eternal value in our small closet. As Bonnie and I watched Hairspray and swooned over Zac(k) Efron, I came across a note that my mom wrote to her precious middle child (ha) in 1995. To her almost 6-year-old daughter, she wrote: Annie you are my beautiful, determined young girl. Someday you will be a great leader. Your mind and sensitive heart are touched by God. You make me laugh-I wish I had your sense of humor. You are "something special". My mom went on to say how much she loved me and that I was her gift from God. I am so thankful that my mom and dad took time to encourage me and my siblings even as young children. Even if we don't remember them or have let them collect dust beneath beanbag chairs and legos, words are undeniably powerful.

-Thanks Mom for seeing in me what I don't usually see in myself. Thank you for sacrificing a lot of yourself to spend time with your children. I love you!