The Red Metal Tool Box

This past summer I was cleaning out the garage and came across an old, red, metal toolbox of my husband's (now deceased). I decided to bust it open in hopes he had been hoarding money during our marriage, which would be ok now that it would be all mine! Instead what I found inside was every note and card I had ever written or given him pre marriage. How romantic eh? That's what I thought until tonight when I remembered the tool box and decided to start reading them.

After laughing through them I decided that first I will need to sort through and separate those that I will allow my children to some day read and those that should probably be burned. I already fear that my children will need therapy in the future simply because they drew the short straw when it came to getting the really good mom. No need to make it worse by reading the sometimes rather inappropriate things I wrote to their dad in high school.

On a side note my 11 year old told me this evening (after a conversation about some parents she was observing in the restaurant earlier) that some people just shouldn't be allowed to parent. My question was, "Am I one of them?" Her answer was no, so I still have the wool over her eyes for now.

Back to the red tool box. Once I made the decision to censor what my children could read I thought it would be fun to entertain the internet with some of my notes, my personal embarrassment is a small price to pay for your enjoyment. Please keep in mind that he and I dated through most of my high school years and that is when the majority of these notes were written. I swear I've grown up since then, I really have.

Let's start with the profession of love:

Matthew,

I love you!

Love-ya,
Me

P.S. I love you!

Hmm, profound.

Ok, moving on to a typed note (gee, I'm guessing I was in typing class perhaps neglecting my typing assignment):

Matthew,
Howdy! How ya doin'? Me, fine! I guess! I have a terrible headache though.
And I miss you! And I LOVE YOU! About last night, I'm sorry for questioning
you about whether or not you really loved me! I believe ya!

LOVE-YA,
ME!

Ok, I must take several issues with this one. For starters I know I'm not as chipper, nor have I ever been, as the number of exclamation points in this note might indicate. Then notice how in high school I was already practicing the "honey, not tonight, I have a headache" move. I was always ahead of my age. Did I seriously start this note with "Howdy!"? ACK! One theme I noticed in a few of the letters that is also present in this one is obvious insecurity issues. I wish someone would have grabbed me by the shoulders and told my high school self to GET A GRIP! No fear, I got over that about the first week of marriage when every time I moved from his sight he asked me where I was going. We only lived in 780 square feet, I couldn't go far.

Ok, this is the last one I'll share for tonight, as I still have lots of them to read through.

Matthew,
Hi hon! I'm sorry I didn't have much time to write but we were learning
how to draw atomic models and I had to pay attention!
Kay-O? I promise I'll write in 5th hr. maybe!
I LOVE YOU!

Love-ya,

Me

Well, it's good to see that I was at least attempting to pay attention in one of my classes. Thank the stars I learned how to draw atomic models because I'll be damned if I don't use that knowledge on a daily basis. Apparently I didn't feel I would need to learn anything 5th hour though because it seems it was necessary to write my boyfriend yet another dreary, pointless note. Did I really write "Kay-O?" ACK!

Stay tuned there may be more episodes of "The Red Metal Tool Box" to come.