Our house hasn’t sold yet but, ever the optimist, I’m still trying to declutter. That was what led me to this strange find.
That thing has been hanging in our front entrance closet since we moved in. I’ve never really given it much thought. In fact, I don’t even think I noticed it…until I started clearing the coats. Then I picked it up and thought, what on earth are you?
See that small knob thing on the side? It’s a handle. That thing is a box. And it opens. So I opened it.
The red thing inside the box is a teeny, tiny binder. As in, binder with papers. So I opened that too.
It was written in 1968 and that freaked me out. I felt like Indiana Jones as I read the entries. It’s written by the previous owner (and only owner of the house) as they readied the land to make the house and started building. It ends some time in the 1980’s as they finished the last touches on the house and warns that the box should always be kept inside the house.
I was pretty thrilled to have found this historic thing inside our entrance closet. Not that it’s old enough to be of interest to any historian or anything but there’s something mystical about finding a message from the previous owners of one’s house. Specially a message with a warning. *Cue spooky music*
(credit:imgarcade.com)
Taylor Grace 
That is pretty darn awesome! But yeah, also kind of creepy with that warning 😀
Totally freaked me out. Not that spiders, bad coffee and terrible weather don’t do that too but hey.
seems very mysterious and classic!!
i liked the diary 😉
I did too!
I wish I found discoveries like that in my clutter – the only thing I’m liable to find is a new species! My girls leave things in ever nook and cranny 😉 Is there a rule against adding to the journal? Because how cool would it be to add your memories to the pile and think about the gift you’d get to leave behind!
I thought of that and that it’d be both creepy and neat for the next owner. We will add our two cents to it and leave it behind…:-)
That’s wonderful 🙂 It kind of reminds me of The Lake House – there’s definitely a story in there somewhere!
Aww! That’s such a wonderful movie! What a great thought!
Sounds like an idea for a novel!
It absolutely could be, couldn’t it?
That is very cool! I agree with Margarita, that sounds like a great idea! Did it ignite a little spark Taylor? It would be so awesome to pick up your book at B.A.M one day knowing that I had the privilege of seeing the flame of it ignited right here on WP! 😀
You’re so kind, Annedaria! I’m struggling to edit my second book now and trying to keep my nose to the computer. Another book might send me over the edge.
That, we do not want. Stay on solid ground, unless you’re flying, of course, 🙂 Those pesky book idea embers though, they do have a way of embedding deep in the brain, don’t they? 🙂 I hope you’re also enjoying it while you’re wrangling those pages into shape. 😉 Does it get easier with each new book, or is it different with each one simply because they are different projects?
Ah…I don’t know. Personally, I know I’ve improved my writing…but with that come higher expectations. I honestly see crap when I open it up. I need to have patience and accept it’s going to take time.
Patience is sometimes hard to acquire. 🙂 I’m still working on that myself. Expectations can often push us more than we need to be pushed. Getting that balance just right is so rare, for me at least. 🙂 I just don’t sweat it any more and things seem to always work out. 😉
I need to have more of your attitude!
Pingback: Top 10 posts for January | Taylor Grace
Hm, the creepy warning is to keep the diary in the house at all times, right? Is there any threat of impending doom if you don’t? I wonder how the warning is worded. The box reminded me of my wife’s grandmother’s silver spoon collection box, which I hate and I threaten to throw out anytime we have a fight. But I tell ya, if the box had come with a warning from grandma’s grave to make sure we keep the contents, I would see it as a defiant dare and would surely throw them out on the spot. If you’re dead, you’re hopefully in a better place and, in my opinion, you have no business keeping the rest of us from decluttering our hallway closets. I think my one-sided opinion comes from my deep dislike of clutter. : )
I too have a deep dislike of clutter. But the box is staying right in this house when (and if) we move. No threats of impending doom…It just says the journal needs to stay in the house. All hocus pocus, for sure but I admit there’s a tiny, superstitious part of me that wonders if we’ll sell faster if I fill in the journal in the box…Hm…
LOL! Hocus pocus. I love it! : D
Pingback: Top Posts for 2015 | Taylor Grace
I want to know what it said!!! Without using names or anything personal about the writer could you give us a hint?
Absolutely. It was a house log…It explained how the house had been built back in 1969 and it gave a warning to keep the little binder in the house and keep adding any changes that were made to the house.
We did add the changes we made to the house, and dated it and left it when we moved. 😀