Remember the old cartoon that had Sherman (the boy) and The Professor (talking dog) and they traveled back thru time investigating all kinds of historical people and inventions in "the way back machine"? It used to be on ( I think) as part of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. Well, I had my own "way back machine" this past week. I have been making costumes for the school play here in our town for 8 or 9 years now. The teacher who has been the director of all of these great productions is retiring this year, and the school has indicated that they aren't interested in storing all of the costumes that we have accumulated over the years. So, we emptied every box and sorted thru them all, and we will be donating them to a similar place. It was so much fun! I had forgotten a lot of them, and there was a big pile! The first year, I came to "help" the lady who had done them the year before, we met once and she left for California! Talk about baptism by fire! When I looked back over the plays, I tend to remember the not so good stuff. The year half the cast had pink eye! - The Music Man. The year I had the stomach flu - Alice in Wonderland. The year one of the principles had her appendix out 2 nights before the performance, and the guy who stepped in was so hilarious, he brought down the house as one of the three little pigs - Fractured Fairy Tales. The year that almost killed me, 76 costumes for a huge cast - Once Upon A Mattress. But looking thru all of the costumes and that wasn't all of them by any means, for the last few productions the cast members could buy their costumes afterwards, Oh MY Gosh, what I remember most was all of the fun! Stuff that worked even when we weren't sure it would, we did The Wizard of Oz with a 60's theme, lots of psychedelic prints and tye dye. Those Good Grief eye rolling moments, we did Lil Abner with 4 of us designing the dogpatch outfits, and when four girls got on stage for a musical number, we realized they had almost identical costumes! (great minds think alike) Sometimes, I think we all need to be reminded of the good things. We remember the bad stuff, the hard stuff, uncomfortable moments, or I do anyway. I needed that last big mental hurrah to remind me why I did all of that work over the years. It reeally was a lot of fun, and the kids were wonderful! I want to remember all of the great times, the people who stepped in to help just when I was sure I would lose my mind, and smile and laugh about those "good old days"! Who wouldn't!