A Look into the Past

I think one of the most interesting experiences I have ever had was the day I found some old school books inside of a bag I had gotten from my grandmother in 1998 or 1999. My grandfather had just passed away and I was looking through some old things. I found several books dated from the late 1890’s and they had childhood school day scribblings on the covers and inside the covers. I noticed a name and my mom said it would be interesting if we could return the books to the relatives of the person who penned the scribblings. We started to look in the phone book for the same name that was in the school book. When we found one, we began to call. After several attempts, a person finally answered and my mom explained what the books were and how we acquired them. She then went on to ask if this person, whose name was on the cover, was related to person my mom was talking with. As odd as it was, the person on the phone was the original owner of the book. She was 103. It was amazing. We made arrangements to bring her the books and when we went to meet her it was like walking back into time. She invited us into her house and we talked for 3 or 4 hours. We spoke about her life back in the early 1900’s and she told us of her remembrances of the great dates in history; WWI, WWII, her first job, John Phillip Sousa, etc. Even better, she had a sister who was 95 yrs old and I found a grade school autograph book belonging to her, as well. When our time together was through, I brought the autographed book to her sister. The time spent however was not as rewarding but it felt good to return something that was so old. Unfortunately my friend passed away 4 yrs later at the age of 106 or 107 yrs. I will never forget the 100 year journey (even though it took only a few hours) I took with Julia that summer day in 1998.