You know how when you get ready to donate an old computer keyboard and when you pick it up, your diamond solitaire that’s been missing and you didn’t tell you husband about its misplacement, that diamond solitaire, well, you know how it falls out of the tray underneath the computer keyboard?
And you know how when you are going through some old magazines and a check from your birthday falls out from among the pages?
And you know how when all your power tools, included your power drill which was your favorite present from your husband ever, you know how you’re getting ready to throw away that old box in the garage and then you hear a little metallic clang and then you realize your power tools are buried in the bottom of that box?
All those things have happened to you too?!? That makes me feel so much better!
These pictures are kind of like that.
I found one of my favorite old purses when I was going through some last boxes from our most recent move and these picture were inside. They are from the Spring of 2005. We had zipped back to Oklahoma and were able to attend a fund raiser where Heather Whitestone McCallum, Miss America 1995, was speaking. She had recently received her cochlear implants and 4 of 8 was SO thrilled to get to meet her and to wear the Miss America crown.
She was such a delight to meet and such an inspiration to 4 of 8. I’m so thrilled to have come across these pictures.
Plus, I’m thinking I’m working that blonder hair…maybe I need to chat with some Aunt L’Oreal this weekend…
If you don’t remember Miss America 1995, I’m linking the youtube video of her incredible ballet and winning moment. She is our only Miss America who is hearing impaired and her story continues to make this mama to a kid with those issues a little weepy and proud…
the link to the dance
(apparently the embed code was removed by request)
…and Miss America 1995 is…
Now I wonder what other treasures I might find secreted in the nooks and crannies of the house….
(post edit note–that microphone and black box I’m wearing in the photos are elements of 4 of 8’s FM system. The FM system would make my voice 25dBs louder in her hearing aids and really helped us get better diction into her speech. However, I did go around having to explain that I wasn’t trying to be Madonna on tour…sixkahlas remembers those days!)
I love the spit on the fingers to clean up the other chick she got lipstick on! CLASSIC!
Sorry, got distracted…
Such beautiful photos of your slightly smaller family. What a wonderful find!
I love finding things. I lost a very special ring once and searched for it for ages. I lost it in my room one day when my fingers were smaller after having a cast on my arm and I found in a box a couple of years later having given up on ever seeing it again. The box hadn’t even been in my room at the time so I have no idea how it happened but I got it back and still have it 12 years after my very special friends gave it to me.
My sister once bought an organiser type folder at a school fete white elephant stall and found $50 inside it! She tracked down the owner and they let her keep it! That girl was always finding money!
Geez, with the length of the comments I leave here you’d think I don’t have my own blog to do all this dribbling on…
I remember when she won and it was wonderful. Thanks for the fun look back.
My petty self wants to resent your having everyone color-coordinated in that picture. But I won’t let it.
Mummy McTavish is the best commenter! I love the little Aussie speech variations that come out in her writing.
Wow, I’ve been going through boxes of pictures and school work and ticket stubs and old letters, no diamonds, just treasured memories.
I too love rediscovering forgotten treasures!
Hopefully, this will give you a smile:
I did not recognize Miss America right away, and you have such a beautiful family, I thought she was one of you!!
Having not yet read your post, I was just trying to sort out who was who . . . then I read it.
Precious memories to treasure!
Sorry Octamom, there’s more!
I had to say that I am with SuburbanC on this one, we’re on a winner if all the kids (all two of them) are wearing clean clothes… Yours all match??? I’ll have to try that one day, it looks so cute!
Boy Mom, I think you’re just bonza too! (that’s a good thing just in case you were wondering)
And now it’s back to your regularly scheduled Octamom.
i love long forgotten treasures, they always bring back so many memories!
awesome pics! Did you guys watch Marley Maitlin (sp?) dance on Dancing with the Stars? She is profoundly deaf, but did such an amazing job and made it pretty far, too! There is also a girl who is hearing impaired on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and her lyrical dance was so beautiful.
Isn’t that strange? I remember for my wedding my father gave me a gold bracelet. I don’t wear gold very often because my skin is so pale, I tend to wear silver instead. Anyway, I thought I’d lost it, but didn’t want to hurt my father’s feelings by letting him know. Anyway, we were out shopping and I bought a new handbag. Sure enough when I was emptying out the old one, there was the bracelet in the lining! So, in a way, I was wearing it all the time!
That was a great moment in time. I remember feeling encouraged at that time.
Oh the days of the ‘Madonna mike’–so glad for technology and so glad for you that it has improved!
See, moving has it’s function…it gives us secret treasures to find at later moments! I lost my grandmother’s wedding band at my MIL’s and she did not find it until she moved. I was so relieved! Those little joys you wouldn’t have if everything were all neat and tidy…at least that is what I tell myself.
Rediscovering forgotten and lost treasures is WONDERFUL.
I’m so glad that your daughter was able to meet that particular Miss America. That is so inspiring!
Oh, I remember Miss America 1995. I was weepy watching her!
And how fun to find all of those treasures, including these pictures.
That dance still gets me. I remember watching that pageant and being so touched by her dance and that song. What a testimony!
I love finding old pictures! what fun! thanks much for sharing and I can only imagine how special this meeting was for 4 of 8!
p.s. I took out my spring raincoat today and found 4 dollar bills! those are my favorite finds!
Um…my preggo brain doesn’t really remember much of anything these days, so I can totally relate to those moments…great pictures!! I totally remember Miss America 1995! I was 15 and thought it was so neat when she won! What a neat story and what a fun opportunity for 4 of 8!!! š
How fun to find these pictures!
Those pictures really are a treasure you dug up!
I don’t know who wouldn’t get weepy seeing her crowned and just picturing everythiing her family has done to encourage her in her efforts!
So great to see 4 of 8 here as a little girl, and her progress to having the confidence to participate so fully at Drama Camp now! What a gorgeous girl!
Oh my, trying to be Madonna? LOL!
4 of 8 is really an inspiration! She seems to not let her hearing impairment slow her down in life. She is a winner!
Out of all the Miss America pageant’s I’ve watched that is the one I remember the most. Thank you for posting those clips. I cried this time as I did all those years ago. How wonderful for you and your family to meet this beautiful woman inside and out.