Pandora's Box

My name is Pandora, and I have many boxes. It is shocking when one suddenly finds oneself in their sixties, agewise, and realizes how much "stuff" has been accumulated over the years. Physical "stuff" as well as emotional "stuff."

There was a situation-comedey TV show back in the 1990s called "Married with Children" about a struggling middle-class family. In one episode (S08 E26: "Kelly Knows Something"), the teenage daughter, Kelly, was being groomed by her father to win a trivia game show. He taught her much trivia, but she reached a point where her "brain was full" and with each new thing she learned, something else was erased from her memory to make room for the new thing. 😂 As the game show was beginning, she couldn't figure-out how to press the buzzer, so the show's host told her how to make the buzzer work. In typical, hapless, Bundyesque manner, that one new thing she learned made her forget the one piece of trivia that she later needed to win the contest... 😬

Sometimes I feel like Kelly, that my "brain is full" and that each new thing I learn makes me forget something else. But, in the next moment I am astounded at all the things that are stuffed inside my mind. Some are useful, but some seem like mere clutter How does one de-clutter a brain? Mindfulness Meditation helps to reduce the clutter, momentarily, but it is still there, like trinkets in a box... Pandora's Box...

As was recenty done by the lovely @katrina-ariel, I am also going through boxes of "stuff" that have been in storage for years. Among what I found was this small box. Even before recycling became a fashionable thing, I had my own way of recycling, including putting hair from my hair brushes out for the birds to use for building nests, dumping used coffee grounds into flower pots, and buying things like this little box from second-hand/Thrift stores rather than buying a newly-manufactured one.

This delightful little box was made to hold jewelry and other small trinkets. It is quite well-made and decorated beautifully with a floral and hummingbird motif. The lid is hinged, which is a nice touch, and it is lined with a velour-like fabric.

Among the many trinkets in this box, I found a pair of dice, which I have no idea why they were in there. I found several rings: a "MOM" ring with a little cubic zirconia in the middle of the "O" letter, an oval mother-of-pearl cabochon, a lovely little abalone-shell mosaic of a scene with moon & stars over a mountain at night, and an original 1970s-era heart-shaped Mood Ring — OMG, remember, those...?!?!? 😂

There was also a piano-shaped pin I was awarded as a child for completing a certain level of piano lessons (no, I did not stick with it), a five-year anniversary pin from a company for which I once worked, and a PC-shaped pin that I bought back when I was a Programmer/Analyst during my 30s. There was also a hair-pin with a tortoise-shell motif.

Here is a closeup of the Mood Ring... 😁

In another post, I will share some coins that were in Pandora's Box, too!