Today I am going to write about treasure, more specifically, the treasure we've been finding at the house. No we're not finding gold bullion or anything, but it's treasure to me.

A while back I had asked my Mother about a wooden plaque that had hung in the dining room for years. It had a painted gold railroad spike on it and it commemorated my father's time with Conrail. "Meh, that was junk." she said. I said "yeah, but I want it, what did you do with it." At first she thought she gave it to my one Uncle who has a penchant for railroad things. I asked them and they said they knew nothing about it. Thus, Mom said she probably threw it out. I've been bummed about this for a couple of years now. Guess what we found late in the day Sunday in a nook that we thought "let's take a peek here"?

During this little sort through session we also found my veil from first communion, a thick lock of my toddler hair (shockingly light color on the ends), my baptismal outfit, and a book from when I was a baby that my sister had filled in my first smile and other details in.

I had told her not to toss my old Cabbage Patch dolls and Barbies that were in the attic that I'd eventually get them out of there. Sure enough she listened, but in there we also found a pillow I made in 7th grade Home Ec class.

...and the photos! We've found more photos here and there, including some that have all three, my Dad, my Mom, and I in them - a very rare find.

She was also a woman who saved the cards that people sent her. As a result, I have a large stack of cards that I sent to her for Christmases, Mother's days, birthdays, Easters, Valentine's days, etc back in my possession.

The best part is probably the laughs you find along the way when uncovering things with your sibling.

Like I said - treasure. I'm grateful that while my Mother had been clearing things out for years, I am more thankful that she left hidden treasure for us to find.