Lisa smiles when she sees the lovingly painted shoe box open in front of her. This box, which she started to fill eleven years ago is very important to her. The box is filled with small objects that remind her of special experiences or parts of the life of her son Max. Shortly after his birth, Lisa decided to create a reminder box for him and added a piece to it every now and then.
Even today she wanted to put a photo in the box. This photo, shows Max with his soccer team at the last indoor tournament, where they surprisingly won first place. At that time Max had won the trophy for scoring the most goals, which he proudly lifts up in the photo.
The first ultrasound image of the unborn child
And then Lisa opened the box and started to take one object after the other out of the reminder box and let the corresponding story pass in her mind.
The first memory is a an ultrasound image that her gynecologist had taken when Lisa realized that she was pregnant. It’s hard to believe that this small, indefinable creature eventually developed into her son Max, who at the age of 11, is almost as tall as his mother.
She remembers exactly how she felt at the time. And how her husband Frank almost burst with excitement at dinner when she told him she had something to tell him, and he heard the news for the first time.
The most beautiful Christmas ever
Max was born on a grey November day. Of course Lisa had kept the daily newspaper from November 28th and put it in the reminder box. “Meteorologists expect a white Christmas” was the headline on the first page. But nothing came of it. Nevertheless, it became the most beautiful Christmas ever for Lisa and Frank because they were allowed to celebrate with their child for the first time. Even though Max didn’t notice much of it yet and only slept for most of the holidays.
Once Max had got a little plush bunny from his grandma at Easter. Lisa just hated it because it was so misshapen and didn’t look like a rabbit at all. But Max loved him. From then on, he dragged him around with him, and without his rabbit he never went to sleep. Outside, inside, on trips or visits – the rabbit was always with him. And when Lisa had to put him in the washing machine Max was very restless and only satisfied when he held his rabbit in his hands again.
Who knows where the left ear is?
There it lies now lonely in the memory box. Nobody knows exactly when and why he lost his left ear. At some point Max lost interest in the rabbit, and so he ended up as another part of the memory box. Although Lisa, who still found him hideous, would have preferred to throw him in the trash. But her heart couldn’t bear to do that.
Big brother, little sister
When Max went to kindergarten, the house became a bit quieter in the morning, even though his little sister Marie had been born in the meantime. Max was very much in love with Marie from the very beginning and could not understand why little babies always had to sleep so much. In the photo that Lisa is now taking out of the reminder box, a proud big brother can be seen, who is holding his little sister on his lap for the first time. In the photo Max is trying to clumsily kiss Marie, a beautiful memory.
Kindergarten – Production facility for memories
Max regularly brought presents home for his mom from the kindergarten. Lisa was always very touched when he gave her something homemade and always waited for her reaction. She would have loved to put all these personal things into the memory box, but couldn’t because there wasn’t enough space.
Only the colorfully painted stone that he gave her for Mother’s Day she kept and put in the box. Max had secretly brought it back from kindergarten and actually managed to hide it until the second Sunday in May. That was quite an achievement on his part, as he was always happy to share everything he had experienced.
And when, on Mother’s Day, he stood at her bedside with a very serious expression on his and finally handed over his gift, she was already touched. And that wasn’t because it was only 4:30 in the morning and Max had just woken her up. But rather because he simply couldn’t wait any longer to show her his gift.
Max is daydreamer
With the beginning of his school days, things had changed for Max as well. Lisa must have thought of this when she pulled out his first report card from the reminder box. “Max is a daydreamer who doesn’t always follow the lessons,” his teacher had noted on his report card. Lisa took this as an opportunity to have a serious talk with Max. Frank saw it all with humor. His report cards were much worse back then, and yet he had learned something. He tried, but he couldn’t really calm Lisa down.
At some point, the children learn to start writing with a fountain pen. At first it was a scribble. Max always pressed too hard with his excess energy, so that the beautiful nib was bent beyond recognition and Lis had to buy him a new fountain pen. That was quite an expensive purchase, Lisa remembers, but of course the first fountain pen made it into Max’s memory box.
There were also hard times
All these events go through Lisa’s mind as she picks up one item after another from Max’s memory box. How quickly time has passed and how much joy Max has already given them. Of course there were also difficult hours. Once he was sick with chickenpox and had a high fever for days. Lisa and Frank were very worried, even though the pediatrician always calmed them down. The first thermometer that they had to buy back then reminds her of this, which now sits among all of the other little memories.
At one time or another Max gets the reminder box
Suddenly, Lisa has a thought. She remembers that the reminder box is supposed to belong to Max at some point. Then she won’t be able to pick it up whenever she wants and remember the old stories.
Shouldn’t she start writing down one or two memories from the past, so that she can remember them too? Then everyone would benefit and you could read the stories again and again, not only to Max and Marie, but she and Frank could also read them. These books from Meminto Stories would certainly be a good place to do that. Sure, the reminder box would continue to fill them. But the thought of writing everything down never leaves her.
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A book would be good for everyone
Such a book is really a great idea. It can hold much more than just a box of memories. Old stories enriched with the appropriate photos, that’s what it would be. And at the same time it would be a very nice present, not only for the children and Frank, but also for all grandparents. So Lisa decides to start her new project with the help of Meminto Stories. At school she always had a hard time writing essays. But she has read that at Meminto Stories, everyone is able to create their own book. Lisa is happy.
