Okay, ladies: who has a “treasure box”? There are no rules; it’s whatever you want it to be. Mine is a little green box fashioned out of heavy cardboard with a deep yellow interior and it looks suspiciously like a lunch box. In it I have a random mix of stuff including a couple of special greeting cards, a random movie ticket stub (Cold Mountain), torn off addresses from envelopes sent from friends for my theoretical Christmas card list and fragile khaki-colored envelopes eroding at the edges which contain letters dating back to late Dec 1952 through early Jan 1953 from my paternal grandmother – living in Maryland with my infant father – to my grandfather stationed in San Francisco.
There are also pictures of me and my boyfriend (nice, not naughty), ’70s flashback pics of childhood, a mechanical Hello Kitty pencil, a silver fairy charm from my 7-year-old niece and 5 pins (think ’80s jean jacket): Vote for Pepe (yeah, the Muppet! He’s my favorite, by the way), Ozo (Ozomatili), NASA (yeah, that space stuff), B’more (Baltimore) and Obama: Change, Courage, Hope, from the Democratic National Convention pre-presidency.
Last but not least, I stumbled across a small treasure trove of… drum roll… stickers! Yes, ladies, I said stickers – six sheets to be exact. While everything else has been neatly nestled back in its proper place in my little lunch box, the stickers have been removed and I am currently plotting their proper use, which will probably involve personalizing my new laptop. I also have a unique opportunity to shallowly inflate my cool points with both nieces, ages 7 and 3, by breaking out said stickers during coloring time. Now, I know this is a cheap ploy but let’s face it, stickers work! Shoot, I got excited looking at them. My favorites? The sheer Hello Kitty ones and glittery ‘creatures of the sea’.
Who would have thought that an innocent endeavor like cleaning out my junky office would turn into my itemizing those things I hold dear, accumulated in one small box and protected like a dog would his bone.
Cija Jefferson is a writer living in Los Angeles.
Didn’t you find inspiration from, “Rumor is not always wrong. – from Life of Agricola.”.
LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEB THISSSSS
I smile everytime I read this. I really admire your writing, and wish to be as great a writer as you someday! I am so very happy for you!
Ahhh Mezei, good call this article was right on! I definitely have a treasure box too…started as a catch all but turns out there is so some cool stuff in there
I am not a female but also have a treasure chest filled with many things that I hold dear to me. I also have photos of my grand mother in Baltimore. Now being that the author is my little sister this article will be placed in my treasure chest along with things I hold dear to my heart. Love you!
This is such a great idea! I have many treasures spread all throughout the house in various moving boxes … I am going to consolidate it all into one special container. Thanks for inspiring me! Now where did I put my grandmother’s prayer book?!? :\
Thanks for all of the comments! My ‘treasure box’ came about accidentally and became this place for me to ‘drop off’ things I didn’t want to throw away but didn’t know where to put them. I totally hear Jennie Edenfield, I am horrible at keeping journals, so having this treasure box and keeping old calendars helps me keep track of special moments. I’m totally nosy, so am loving reading about the contents of everybody’s treasure box, chest, box o’ stuff, you name it:-)
I have a few treasure chests. One looks like a real treasure chest. I found it at my grandmother’s house when I was four. I think it originally contained candy or cookies. I’ve filled it with various treasures all my life–usually things related to my grandma.
I also have a keepsake box full of old journals, special letters, cards and other paper trinkets.
I don’t necessarily have a “treasure box”…but I have more of a “picture box” where I have a collection if various photos of me, friends, family, and randoms from over the years. Maybe I should create a treasure box though..:-) Yay Cija for being published! ha. <3
Mine is full of ticket stubs and the picks I dove for!
I found my sticker collection started in elementary school, and I was so happy! I loved stickers and refused to use them for anything. I’ve managed to let go of of my sticker hoarding tendencies and used them to potty train my daughter! It worked like a charm along with Elmo panties (“Elmo doesn’t want to get wet.”)
Thanks for sharing the contents of your treasure box! Even when someone gives you permission to look inside their box or diary, it still feels like I’m snooping (and there’s something very satisfying in that). My treasure box is an old train case that belonged to my great-grandma. I love random mementos that remind me of an exact time & place. I’m horrible at keeping a journal, so the box helps me piece together my life events that I was too lazy to write about in detail.
I love treasure boxes! Actually, I have several treasure boxes! Since I was a kid, I’ve piled up my knickknacks in many random containers (cigar boxes, shoeboxes, etc) and hidden them in drawers and even taken some to college with me. They’re filled with movie stubs, notes from school friends, letters from pen pals, buttons, jewelry, concert stubs, drawings, pressed flowers.. anything that held a memory to me at any point in my life. It’s nice to see how far back each box goes when I happen to stumble upon it. I wasn’t sure how many other people did that, and I’m glad to see so many others. Thank you so much for posting this!
I don’t have like an official treasure box that I set aside, but my parents got me a hope chest several years back and that’s been m unofficial treasure chest. It’s mostly storage at the moment but I do have a lot of keepsake items in it, like some of my old baby blankets, some stuffed animals and memoirs from trips I’ve taken.
I have a couple of treasure boxes. They contain a wide variety of stuff from concert stubs and buttons to key chains to a copy of a soap opera magazine that published my letter to the editor in 1996. Over the years, some have been misplaced (which makes me sad) but I will always love looking through my old memories.
I love looking through my treasure box! It has an old perfume mixed with metal kind of smell. Old metal because of my small collection of buttons I used to wear on my denim jacket from when I was going through my Madonna stage. Other favorites include a mother-of-pearl handled pen knife from my dad, a pair of screw on earring that my mom used to wear when she was a teen and photos. I know lots of people are into scrap booking but I like a treasure box filled with random items and photos.
I keep my treasures in a miniature cedar chest. The local furniture store gave them to all the girls in town for high school graduations. I keep all kinds of random memory stuff in there that would probably just look like junk to anyone else. Concert tickets, bits of ribbon, the paper bracelet from an amusement park trip with my best h.s. friend, even the top to a Mickey’s 40 from college. Seriously, I said it looked like junk.
Yes! Treasure boxes are like little time capsules, reminding us of our past selves. I’ve got a little jewelery shelf thing my grampa gave me. I filled it with little “treasures” that 7-year-old Ruthie thought were very important: tiny shells, a Barbie shoe, a plastic bracelet given to me by a boy in my class (it was as good as a diamond in my little brain). I love looking through it. This was a fun piece, Cija, thanks for sharing