Item – Really Bad Poetry – 2003
I think it’s meant to be funny but the
title of this poem is “Don’t Judge us You Stupid Hypocritical Stereotypists”
and to be honest just writing that out makes me want to jump through time and
strangle Teen Lizzy until it is no longer possible for me to have done so due
to a paradox.
Item – Bag of Letters sent to me while at
Ironbark – 2003
Hot damn there is a tonne of letters here.
I honestly am not going to read them right now. I mean just look at that. How
did I get so many letters in 5 weeks? I especially enjoy that the handful of
the ones I did read from my mum all make jokes about my lack of response. There
are lots here from family, but most are from friends. I think there’re so many
because mine was one of the last classes to go so everyone else in our grade
knew what it was like and how exhilarating it was to receive a letter (or 5) on
mail day. Pleasant.
Item – Handwritten Story – 2003
Well it’s the start of a story. I think I
may actually have a later draft still saved somewhere on my laptop. This was
one of my first novel ideas. It was a love story between my 16-year-old
protagonist, Matt, and a girl at his new school called Eminine. She hates her
name, obviously. This is an ~interesting character trait~. It’s really
not very good story writing, but it was the first time, I think, I put pen to
paper and actually allowed myself to create stories. And therefore, this is one
of my most treasured possessions.
 |
| I didn't choose the thug lyf etc |
Photo – Sleeping small Lizzy – c. 1993
maybe?
Not sure why this is in the box, as it’s
obviously from a lot earlier, but it is. It’s adorable. My parents took this
photo, I think, because they wanted to document one of their favourite things
about me: how I always fell asleep reading/with books on me.
Items – Collection of Birthday cards – 2003
Fifteen is a good age to be I think. My
favourite card is the one on top. It’s from my family, but Charlie (aged 6)
drew and wrote in it. It says inside, “Happy Birthday Lizzy. Lizzy it is your
15th Birthday Love from Daddy Mummy Charlie BANO xo
 |
| XO bitch, XO |
Some notes:
- “Bano” is Charlie’s spelling of “Banko”
which was our family’s pet name for the as yet not born Sally.
- We do actually have another sibling but Charlie
seems to have decided he is not a member of our family.
Oh no wait there is another card here that
was most likely drawn by the 3-year-old Patrick. Perhaps the scribble is his angry, artistic response to be being left out.
 |
| P is for Patrick and Poking your brother with a stick |
Items – Letters and Photos from Felix –
DESTROYED in 2003.
The funny thing about having small siblings
when you’re a teenager is that everyone is jealous. They want to come over and
play with the babies. They offer to your mother to feed and change your
siblings. They ask incessant questions about cute things they do. And hey,
don’t get me wrong, I LOVED having baby siblings when I was a teenager, just as
I love having pre-teen and teen siblings now as a young adult. It’s a very
different experience to most people’s and is a defining feature of my idea of
myself. BUT can you imagine?! You’re never sure if your friends actually like
you or they just like kiddies. You want to hang out and do teen girl things and
they are FUCKING OFFERING TO LOOK AFTER THE SQUIDGY THING, you get to look
after her anytime you want and that means it’s not something you just offer to
do.
And here’s the big thing. Kids wreck shit.
My full-length mirror: SMASHED, my fancy blue jelly candle: ANNIHILATED... with a
SPOON, and my favourite childhood book, Letters
from Felix: RIPPED, DESTROYED and made STICKY with some sort of lolly.
These are some of the ripped out envelopes
and letters from the book. Basically, a girl’s toy bunny gets lost at the
airport and then goes on a world tour, sending her letters along the way. It is
pretty much the most adorable thing and I was SO CAREFUL with it my whole
childhood. Never lost any of the bits, never even used the stickers that were
in the suitcase on the back page and then one day I discovered it RUINED by
SQUIDGY CHILDREN.
This story has a happy ending. My mum
looked everywhere for a replacement book for me, and never could. And then one
day she saw it in the bookshelf at my brother’s kindy and bought it from them.
So now I have a copy. And no squidgy small people around to ruin it.
Dear squidgy not so small people that I am
related to, I love you, I do.
So anyway. I’m beginning to think that I
will stop analysing these boxes at the end of Grade 12 (2005). I’ve kept one
every year since then too, but I feel like it’s too soon or something. But I
just love this project, and I hope you do too. I’ve had an idea that you are
welcome to get involved in. I’m going to make a tumblr page that you can submit
YOUR hoarded photos, letters, etc to, preferably with a little story to go with
it. I will be putting this together in the next week or so, so stay tuned.
