As you know from my latest post, the Lake House that was in the family for many years, is no longer. After my grandparents' passed away, my sister bought the Lake House from the estate so that we could all still enjoy it. For several years, we always joked that Mama and Papa had hidden treasure somewhere for us to find. Was it in the garage? In the boat? Underneath the deck? In the well-pump room? Ooh - I bet it was behind the picture that was literally glued to the wall! The Lake House was still furnished and had all of their personal items in it when my sister bought it. We would be going through the cabinets and finding special dishes that would bring back a memory of Mama's famous foods. We'd be out in the boat and find a fishing pole that reminded us of Papa and his catfish (that I would literally eat gagging, just to make him happy, as he thought the taste of catfish was the greatest thing in the world!).
This past Saturday as we were cleaning out the Lake House, we were coming across other things that we hadn't noticed in years. We'd laugh and say, "Oh! I bet that's where they hid the treasure!" One thing that I took home with me was the large woodens stereo - you know the kind from around the 1970's? It has a stereo (AM/FM), record player and an 8-Track tape player. I hadn't seen one of those since I was a kid! When we moved the table that was in front of the stereo, there was a large box and it was filled with 8-track tapes!! I had no idea that those had been there this whole time. I loaded up the stereo with the box of tapes and headed home. We arrived home and set up the stereo and started playing the radio - it sounded like it was brand new! I opened my Hope Chest, which holds all my prized possessions, and brought out my 45 records that I had when I was younger. My daughters thought I'd lost my marbles as I played Shaun Cassidy, Billy Joel, Madonna and Debarge. My daughters had never seen or heard a record player. They were in awe. My 11 year old began looking around and beside the stereo when she asked "Where do the CD's go??"
That's when I pulled out the 8-track tapes. The kids were mesmerized. I put the first one in - it was Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. Oh, how I could see my Papa tapping his foot (and Mama rolling her eyes!). The kids weren't quite sure what to think of this contraption. But as I started going through the tapes, I started heading down memory lane....there was an Elvis tape - Oh how Mama loved Elvis and Graceland. There was George Jones and Tammy Wynette (who I saw in concert just before she passed away), and there was Box Car Willie (My kids had thought I lost my mind as I started singing "Heaven" along with Willie).
As I shuffled through the tapes, the last tape that I found absolutely brought tears to my eyes as the memories flooded my mind. It was a blue 8-track that was entitled "The Magic Organ, A Magic Christmas". This tape was my absolute FAVORITE when I was little. My Mama would take me and my cousin to Holiday World (Then called Santa Claus Land)every summer. And the entire ride to the park and back, we'd listen to that Magic Organ playing Christmas songs. Once 8-tracks went out of style, Mama knew that I loved that so much, that she made a copy of it onto a regular cassette tape. EVERY Christmas, my family listens to this cassette as we put up our Christmas tree (and every Christmas the kids and hubby roll their eyes, but endure it as they know it's special to Mommy). The cassette tape has all the songs listed in Mama's handwriting and I remember all the times she probably endured that music too because she knew I loved it so much.
So, when I found this box of 8-track tapes and the memory it holds, I realized there wasn't any hidden treasure that they had buried for us to find. The treasure has been around us this entire time! Each snippet of memory that a dish, fishing pole or stereo held was a treasure of memories that Mama and Papa created for us to enjoy for a lifetime. The treasure we joked of finding wasn't a material item that we had to dig up, or that had a monetary value.
The hidden treasure is what they buried deep in our hearts and minds, for their values they taught us, laughs we shared and for their memory to live on to share with our children and grandchildren.
Thank you Mama and Papa for all the love you showed us and for creating memories that I will "treasure" forever.
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