Time Capsule

Time flies over us but leaves its shadow behind.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Have you ever watched a movie where the characters unearth a time capsule filled with memories and treasures from days gone by? Have you ever watched those scenes and thought, “Man, I wish I had done something like that!” It would be so cool to see what I deemed important enough to memorialize; what my past self was willing to part with so that my future self could smile at the memories it evokes.

Today I realized that I DO have my very own time capsule. It’s been right in front of my face (or in back of my yard) this whole time. It’s my husband’s workshop. I didn’t have to dig anything up; I just had to walk outside and take a minute to notice the giant time capsule filled with treasures that’s been right there all along.

My husband has always wanted a garage. And we don’t have one. Nor are we planning to move so his chances of fulfilling his garage-owning dreams are slim (Sorry, love). I know it’s not the same, but he does have a large workshop in the backyard. No, it doesn’t fit a car but it houses all of his tools, the lawn mower and lots of other odds and ends that would normally take up residence in a garage. I don’t often go in there as he’s the handy one in the house. I go as far as to grab some clippers or yard bags but that’s about it. So today, I went in there and something caught my eye. It was my old figure skating bag, high up on a shelf, covered in dust. The sight of that baby blue bag took me back to my days of hurrying home from school, eating a quick dinner then my mom running me to the rink for lessons and free skate. Then I remembered bus trips for the precision team on the weekends and getting my hair braided on the bus by one of my teammates. I remembered my hot pink spandex skating skirt that I wore when I won my first competition. And I remembered how my mom never missed an event, competition or test in my 8+ year skating “career.” I remembered my dad building us a backyard rink and hauling the kitchen chairs outside so we could learn to skate by holding on to those.

All of that from spotting a dusty bag on a shelf. If that was in here, what other memories of days gone by could be hiding on shelves or stored in boxes? So I started looking around. And there was no shortage of things to find.

Hanging on the wall was a Green Lantern kite that our boys likely got at one of their annual backyard birthday parties. Seeing this unopened birthday gift made me think about how our backyard was home to 14 birthday parties for the boys. Thankfully my boys are summer babies so their parties always consisted of swimming, games, food, a theme that I always went all out with, friends, family and lots of laughter. And every year a homemade cake that was equal parts delicious and work of art, made with love by my mom, their sweet Nana. It made me remember frantically checking the weather in the days leading up to those parties and crossing my fingers that it wouldn’t rain so I could keep 10+ boys in the backyard and out of my house. And it made me grateful for all the pictures we have to commemorate all of those amazing memories, some of which include friends who have moved away and family members who are no longer with us.

A little further down in the workshop, I spotted another blue treasure. This time it was a birdhouse that one of our boys had made for me for Mother’s Day many years ago. This made me think of all the handmade masterpieces they both brought home over the years and how they’d be so excited to give them to us. Little did they know, we were even more excited to receive them. It also made me laugh when I remembered how one year as the boys got older, I received my handmade Mother’s Day gift on the last day of school when B. cleaned out his locker and it came home mixed in with all of his papers, pencils and books. His response: “Better late than never!” It also made me realize I have another time capsule in the basement that lovingly holds every single one of those handmade masterpieces.

In another part of the workshop, I spotted a set of training wheels, little rocks and pieces of gravel still embedded in the tiny treads. It made me think of the day our boys were ready to shed the safety net and ride on 2 wheels. I caught their first ride on video and you can hear me cheering them on but you can also hear our neighbour across the street doing the same, her pride just as evident as mine. It made me think about how hard it was to loosen the reigns and let them ride to the park on their own once they were skilled at handling their bikes and how the reigns we are having to loosen at 15 make that bike riding freedom seem like such an easy give.

Lastly I spotted a veritable treasure chest filled with remnants of not only our boys’ childhood but also my own. Under the yard bags was a tote filled to the brim with wrestlers. In the pile were favourites including Tito Santana, Andre the Giant, Big Boss Man, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, The Hart Foundation and of course, Hulk Hogan. Before they were passed on to our boys, these guys (and manager Elizabeth) endured many a battle with my little brother choreographing and commentating every body slam, suplex and figure four leg lock. It made me think about how my brother got to see a Wrestlemania in person and how my husband and I took our boys to many live wrestling events, some for which we splurged for ringside seats and made our own signs, hoping to catch the attention of The Rock or John Cena. It reminded me that by age 9, B. was so good at WWE trivia that he easily beat my brother, his uncle (the ultimate wrestling fan in the 80’s) to obtain the trivia title. It made me nostalgic for the Friday nights when we’d watch Smackdown as a family, share snacks and know all the story lines for all the wrestlers. With two 15 year olds, Friday nights look a little different around here now.

I’m usually the kind of person who prefers to live in the present moment because I appreciate how quickly time passes. But once in a while, when I am looking to enjoy a stroll down memory lane, I will venture out to our giant time capsule in the backyard, take a look around and rediscover more amazing memories stored within those 4 walls that are still waiting to be rediscovered.