I swept a layer of dust from the top of the old wood crate I’d lugged from the back of the garage to the living room. It was a time capsule I’d made 50 years ago, filling it with things I’d prized as a 13-year-old in 1972. In the decades since, people I’d mentioned it to would ask, “What’s inside?” At this point, I didn’t remember. But I was about to find out!
I wedged a pry bar into a gap at the top of the crate. My family was gathered around me—my wife, Peg; my 92-year-old mom; my son; my daughter and son-in-law; and my two granddaughters—literally on the edge of their seats to witness the big reveal. Expectations were sky-high. Especially mine. I’d always been into history and how the past connected to current events. The years of my boyhood—the sixties—had been a defining era. I had so many memories. The moon landing in 1969. My beloved Red Sox playing in the 1967 World Series. Even a fuzzy recollection of President Kennedy’s assassination, when I was only four. No surprise that I’d grown up to be a news broadcaster. These items I’d saved…I imagined they’d shed some light on the man I had become. I felt a bit like an archaeologist about to sift through a dig.
“Maybe there’s a copy of the Declaration of Independence,” my son suggested, interrupting my reverie.
“Or a tin with a hidden million dollars,” came another guess.
This story is from the June/July 2023 edition of Guideposts.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June/July 2023 edition of Guideposts.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
EVERYDAY GREATNESS: Jessica Manfre
Uniting military and civilian communities through acts of kindness
The Cake Mixer Mishap
I should’ve listened to Mom
Star Turn
I worried about my introverted daughter. Then Olivia flipped the script
Unearthed
I pulled the overgrown remnants of my herb garden, putting it to bed for the season, and went over a mental list of all the things to do before winter began—change out the screens for storm windows, finish the yard work, bring down the draft blockers from the attic.
Confidence Builder
My five boys didn't need me to homeschool them anymore. Now I wanted to be good at something else. But could I?
Ordinary People
The story behind Norman Rockwell's celebrated painting
A Woman of Courage
After I was widowed, fear took over my life. How could I trust anyone if I couldn't trust God?
Keep on Truckin'
How to bring a couple back together: share a long-haul drive in an 18-wheeler
My Answer to Pain
Inflammation was wreaking havoc with my health. Was God trying to show me a better way to live?
Letters From Phil
My older brother and I went our separate ways: he to the Air Force, me to a marriage that didn't last. He lived a rough-and-tumble life, but that's not what really worried me