Most people consider cleaning out their garage a dreaded chore. For me, it is a treasure hunt! Our garage has room for two cars and an extra space for storage. We have always parked our cars in the garage so it wasn’t a complete nightmare. Parts of it were though!
We used to have a small fence in front of the cars. There is a dog door from the laundry room to the garage and then the garage to the yard. The fence was to keep Aggie from running out when the garage door was open. I have fallen over the fence on more than one occasion when my heel has caught it and it wasn’t pretty! After Aggie died I took it down and I’ve really been wanting to do some organizing and throw out unneeded things. Since the Cruiser is in the shop it’s the perfect opportunity.
I didn’t completely finish today but I took a full carload to Goodwill, my recycling bin is almost completely full and the trash can is getting there. I can already see a difference! Let me tell you, my husband was prepared for just about any kind of home project. He saved everything! Cardboard, a broken garage door opener, a LOT of empty beer bottles for beer making. A few weeks ago I filled the back of my car with boxes of beer bottles and they weighed 68 pounds! That equals five dollars and change in case you are wondering, lol. I found a few more today and put them in the recycling bin.
I found a whole box of stuff for the VW bus. Matt has been having some issues with it so this should help! 
I filled a huge bin with beer making supplies. The girls went through our costumes and got them from 3 boxes to 1 bin. I found a box full of teaching stuff, mainly files on things like earthquakes and volcanoes. I didn’t tackle that one yet. And, of course, I found a box of treasures!
This time the box was my stuff so I didn’t think I would find much. The first thing I saw was this. The sign that was put on the car when we left our wedding.
I also had newspapers from the first gulf war, the 1989 earthquake, and 9/11. Also various magazines. I had plaques, trophies and medals. Sports award programs, patches that were never sewn on my letterman jacket, and a t-shirt from Clark Intermediate with the name of every 8th grader from 1981 printed on it. And my cap from my college graduation! My nephews were my pride and joy back then and this was what they called me for a while.
The best treasures were two cards and a drawing from Patrick. The first was a handmade card from our first Valentine’s Day, which would have been 1987! He was very creative! 
He made this pencil drawing of me. 
And the best treasure was another Valentine’s card. It says, “For My Wife,” but we weren’t actually married yet.
I don’t quite know how I got so lucky to find Patrick. I still miss him tremendously and I can’t believe he’s gone. Sometimes I agonize over his last minutes and I still hope I will wake up from this bad dream. As hard as it is, at the same time, I am profoundly grateful that I had so much time with him. Whenever I find these little hidden treasures it is a reminder of how deeply he loved me and what a great life we had together. That’s what I will go to sleep dreaming about, all the wonderful times!