Back in 2018 my family moved to Missouri from Oklahoma. For two years I never finished unpacking my stuff from our old house, but now that the COVID outbreak has made me move home from my dorm, I finally found the time to unpack and rediscover a few things, pictured in the above cover photo, that are important to me.

On the left is a Bible that I found while unpacking a bin of books that were too big to fit on my bookshelf in our Oklahoma house. This bible originally belonged to my grandpa, my father's step-father. It was given to him as he went through conformation in his church in 1938.

This Bible is very important because it is my father's family Bible. My parents have always been very family oriented. For the most part though, we have been closer to my mother's side of the family because my father's family isn't as connected.
Now that I have found my grandpa's Bible, we have another connection to my father's family. My father was definitely happy about me finding this Bible because it brought back some good memories of his mother and step-father. We are now keeping it in my room with my mother's family Bible that belonged to her father.

In the middle is a leather bookmark that I found in the same bin that the Bible was in and was still marking a spot in a book about wildlife that I had started reading but never finished. Stamped on it is my name and a design of barbed wire and dots. Though it may seem like a simple little thing, this bookmark brings back many childhood memories for me.

When I was in elementary school, I was a member of my local Cub Scout pack, where my father was an assistant pack leader and my mother was a den leader. During this time, my mother bought a leatherworking kit to teach my den about leatherworking.
In the end, I enjoyed leatherworking so much that I found where my mother was keeping the leatherworking kit and started making as many leather things as I could. My parents were ok with this hobby and got me pieces of leather to stamp.

Once my leatherworking phase ended, I had made about twenty bookmarks, five luggage tags, a cell phone case, and a water bottle "holster." As I grew up, I lost much of my handiwork. Now, all I have is a couple of bookmarks, and now I have one more to remind me of my childhood.

On the right is a small wooden box. Intricate designs are carved into the top and sides of the box, and on the top is an inlaid pattern of a lighter colored wood. This box was originally my grandmother's, and even though I had it in my room before I moved to Missouri, I found it in a bin with stuff from my grandmother's house.

When my grandmother died in 2010, I kept this box from her house pretty much just because I though it looked cool. After I took it home, though, I made sure to keep good care of it because it made me think of my grandmother. At that time, I had it displayed on top of my dresser and kept tie tacks in it.

When my family moved to Missouri, I thought I had lost it and it made me feel like I had lost a bit of my grandmother's memory. Now that I've finally found it again, it reminds me not only of my grandmother, but also of my hometown in Oklahoma. I know my dad is certainly just as glad to have this box back as I am, but that is mainly because some of the tie tacks in it are ones that I borrowed from him and never gave back until now.

Staying home because of COVID has certainly taken some getting used too. It is however giving me plenty of time to get things done around the house. Even though I should have unpacked my bins from moving two years ago, doing it now has given me many good things to think about and distract myself from the world outside.