(Photo Credit: Sidereal via Flickr)

I am a collector of many things–wind-up toys, picture books, chickens. But my favorite things to collect are memories and stories of the people I know and love, and images that represent these stories and memories. My memory alone isn’t very dependable for this collection so I have boxes of photos and memorabilia, notebooks and scraps of paper filled with written memories. This is the main reason why I’m interested in scrapbooking and keeping a family blog–to preserve these things. I am forever resolving to be more organized in how I collect and assemble these mementos, and forever intending to dedicate more time to it. Too often things happen that I am certain I’ll never forget and then days later I’m trying to remember what had me laughing so hard, and I kick myself for not writing it down.

Which is why it was such a nice surprise when, the other night, I was sorting a stack of papers and came across some notes I’d taken from a Thanksgiving visit at my parents’ house a few years ago.  They were quotes from my niece and nephew who I think were about six and eight at the time and reading them made me laugh and brought me right back to that visit. Here’s what I’d written down:

Me: Cade, do you think you’d like to go to Mars?
[Cade gives this serious thought]
Cade: Well. . . I’d have to ask my mom first.