A Roll of the Die

I was recently cleaning out my house and in the process, doing some soul searching, when I came across a small, tarnished tin with a starfish on top. I was pleasantly surprised with it's contents....keepsakes from my childhood. I was flooded with memories. These treasures were not your ordinary keepsakes as one would imagine. A coincidence to be sure, to stumble upon this collection during this particular time in my life. I will list these items as some of you from my generation will surely recognize the bits of ephemera and pop culture that made up the 80's:

-pennies, all dark with age, with dates from the late sixties, through the 70's and mid 80's.

-1 Garfield earring (why was his smile so smarmy?)

-a friendship pin (a safety pin with many small beads) that contained the distinct color pattern I remembered looking at in childhood)

-a wrinkled Hubba Bubba gum wrapper. I could almost taste the sugary goodness that I loved as a child.Strawberry was the BEST. Is it still around?

-an old metal jack stone

-1 bobby pin and 1 hairpin (I could see my self standing in our old bathroom, my mother sticking them into my fine hair to keep it in place)

-1 green monopoly house (a valuable lesson learned in childhood, money that is easy come is just as easy go)

-1 pearl headed stick pin (my grandmother used them to stick into corsages or floral arrangements and to this day when I see one, I think of her).

-1 small shell (many summers at the beach, sticky, sandy, cool salty water, riding home with sandy legs stuck to hot vinyl car upholstery, milkshakes from the Sugar Shack)

-4 plastic colored beads (beading was popular then too)

-1 small pair of barbie plastic sunglasses (the kind that fits the doll, not the kid)

-lastly, a die, as in the the little white cube with black dots on it. It held no distinct memory, but it's significance was instantly recognizable. One roll, everything is good, alright, doin' fine. The next roll, it is all over, the end, sayonara, bye bye. What will the next roll hold? Maybe neither, maybe a fine line, silver as one would dare hope.

How could I have managed to save these seemingly meaningless items? Each one held a distinct memory. Such a gift, on a day when it was needed most. We all have our days..... There is a good song by Bob Seger who's words I heard today on the radio, the haunting chords so full, a classic to be certain.

"...I awoke last night to the sound of thunder
How far off, I sat and wondered?
Started humming a song from 1962
Ain't it funny how the night moves?
When you just don't seem to have as much to lose
Strange, how the night moves..."