Every home has what I call a 'cubby hole' - a dark, awkward space where people stash all their junk. For us, it's under the stairs and except for several head-banging injuries, is an excellent storage location for Christmas decorations, suitcases, folding tables, files, and our memory bins. These are large, heavy-duty, plastic totes where we keep precious memorabilia. Once in a while, every few years, we venture to the very back of the crawl-space and pull out the bins. This usually occurs when I get my anti-hoarding instinct and the room needs a clear-out for Goodwill and the landfill. It is always a side-tracked trip down memory lane when the lid flaps get opened and, after 'coming-to' as the over-powering stink of moth balls begins to dissipate a bit, all the junk from our yester-years gets reviewed. This last time in particular turned out to be very exciting for my youngest daughter since I uncovered several items of interest to her. I knew saving those Rocky Horror books and pins for over 30 years would be worth it at some point! She gladly took everything and proudly showed off her 'vintage' accessories! I also enjoyed showing her my Doogie Howser, MD t-shirt from way back in the 80s and she thought it was hysterical how young Neil Patrick Harris was (a.k.a. Barney Stinson from her show "How I Met Your Mother").
Of course my DH wanted to revisit all his old memories and while he was counting the MLB hats in his collection I had an interesting look through the baby magazine his mother was given in the hospital when he was born (early 60s). It is so funny to read (in hind-sight) what was marketed to and advised to new mothers. Do you know they were encouraged to feed their infants Carnation evaporated milk diluted with water and mixed with sugar!?!?!?! I can't believe it!
There is also a list of "I never dreamed..." and one that struck me was "that you oil a baby, like a sewing machine." Pretty funny! And some hints are just as applicable today as then...such as "don't put anything sharp into the baby's nose or ears"; "don't give the baby tea, coffee, beer, or wine of any kind"; "don't let anyone kiss your baby if you can avoid it but if you cannot, let the kissing be done on the back of the baby's neck"!
Every once in a while it's a good thing to remember our past, how much has changed, and how some things never change!