How we were lead to our farm by a time-capsule, a story and a dream: Part 2

(Mock-up bookcover done in
 multi-media collage: Denim paper
on Leanne's hat, book and skirt, 
used by permission: copyright 
Hot Off The Press. Green paper
with pink flowers, used by
permission: copyright Colorbok.)

Part 2 of 3

Opening that rusted little lunch box was like letting a genie out of a bottle... 

Funny how things work out. When Jill and I originally buried our time capsule, it was with the belief that strangers in the future would find what we'd chosen to leave them--presumably sometime after we were dead. 

But instead, it was me, in my own lifetime who would discover our time capsule, or rather what it had to show me. 

When we lifted the lid of the rusted lunch box, I gazed at the remnants of my shimmery purple halter top and remembered Danny's sweaty palm that smelled like corn chips the day I'd worn the top and held his hand. And there was the Shrinky-Dink I'd fashioned into a little license plate for the bike I rode all over the countryside. And the Slime: how many pranks had I pulled with that stuff in Jr. High? The Barbie gown made me think of the many pink and white plastic towns we'd built in the dirt. 

I stared as one memory led to another, and a wave of sadness hit. The place of my childhood was about to be erased forever. 

Just then, something stirred inside me. It was as if a genie had sprung from the time capsule, and now he spoke; but instead of giving me three wishes, he offered a way to capture and hold on to all I held dear. 

"Write," he said. "Write about this farm, about the life of a farmgirl, struggling to grow up during the uncertain times of the 1970s." 

Hadn't I always wanted to be a writer? Perhaps when I buried the time capsule as a child, I'd somehow buried my dreams inside that lunch box for safekeeping until the time was right in my life to pursue them. Now, the genie was saying, "Go for it!" So, I embraced the genie's advice. 

Soon I was writing my Back-to-the-Land series, about a girl named Leanne Peterson who feels like she's been abducted by aliens when she's whisked away from city life by her parents to live like pioneers in the middle-of-no-where Oregon. Though in the story, the nearest town is called Elyson Grove, in my mind, Leanne's farm is laid out just like mine, between a little dirt road and a lovely blue river.  

But the time capsule wasn't finished. There was more than one dream preserved in that little box from '79. Soon, a second life-long dream would become a reality...I'll tell you about it in my next post. 

Joy--Fearless Farm Girl

"Farm girl: its a verb, because it's what you do."

Related posts:

How we were lead to our farm by a time-capsule: Part 1

How we were lead to our farm by a time-capsule: Part 3