Time capsule project not forgotten
During the end of my fifth-grade year or the beginning of my sixth-grade year—I don’t recollect the exact time, my class put together items to put in a time capsule to be dug up either in 2000 or 2020. (I think. It seemed far off then.) That’s a great many years ago—over 40, gulp.
Time capsule location
I believe we completed the time capsule project when I lived in Duvall, Washington, which puts me there in 1977. When we first moved to Washington, my family and I lived in Monroe, Washington.
In Monroe, I remember attending a large school. We had a male teacher, who taught us about worms. Cardboard boxes lined the back of the classroom, filled with soil and worms. When it snowed, my classmates grew excited with wonder, but being from Wisconsin, snow flurries didn’t impress me.
My dad worked as a manager of a large dairy operation, Diamond M Farms. We lived in a small house on one of the main farms. I roller skated along a sidewalk that lined an employee parking area. I helped an older girl muck stalls in the calf barn. We opened doors and shoved the manure and bedding out to fall to a lower floor, where I believe a spreader must have been. I thought this was important business.
Because that house was small, we moved to a different home in nearby Duvall. My mom grew homesick so even though we looked at buying a house in Washington, my parents pulled up stake and headed home to the beef farm we had left behind at the beginning of our western adventure. Within 12 months, I had moved three times: Wisconsin to Monroe, Monroe to Duvall, Duvall to Wisconsin. This messed up my education some since every school is in a different spot, but that is a different story.
When we moved, we ate our Thanksgiving meal at a motel and returned in time for record-breaking snowstorms and a long winter.
Lost connections
After we returned to Wisconsin, I kept in contact with two friends, Meg and Leslie. Of course, as we entered high school and life got busier, we lost contact. Since I didn’t even live in the state anymore, I knew I wouldn’t get a letter about the time capsule, yet a part of me thought it would be cool to be notified. I got to thinking about this at the end of 2020. I wonder what we put in that time capsule and if any of our wild predictions came true.
The last I remember hearing from my friends was when Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980. Hearing my friends’ first-hand experiences of the darkened skies and ash made the evening news all the more exciting and devastating.
While we make predictions about the future and imagine radical changes when we bury a time capsule, life goes on its way full of surprises and still remaining the same. I wonder if any classes are making time capsules for some far-off year. I’m certain we included a newspaper in the capsule. What else would you put in a time capsule if we were to make one today? I think I’d include a journal entry that spoke about good friends and what our lives are alike in this moment.
Did you participate in a time capsule when you were young? Share with us your story.
Photo by Andres Siimon on Unsplash.
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4 Replies to “Time capsule project not forgotten”
No, sorry to say. None of my high school classes did that. I think it’s a great idea, though.
It does sound like an interesting project. I wonder how it ended. Thanks for taking time to comment, Donna. Have a great week.
Thanks for taking me down memory lane. I haven’t thought about Washington in a long time. I remember rollerskating on the sidewalk (do you remember the SLUGS?!) in Monroe, too, and our country house in Duvall (and our room with the beautiful rose curtains and bedding Mom made us). I was only 6-7 years old but remember several things. As far as time capsules, not sure if I ever buried one to dig up later. Have you thought about looking up your friends on Facebook and reconnecting?
I have considered looking them up. Yes, I remember the slugs. I wasn’t fond of slugs. LOL And I remember the big frogs. 🙂 It’s nice to share the memories with you, Shari.