I tend to get temporarily obsessed with figure skating once every Olympics cycle, starting with 1992, or the year my girl Kristi Yamaguchi dominated and brought home the gold to the U.S., where it rightfully belongs. If I know you IRL (and I assume I do, since I don't think this blog has gone viral...YET), I may have told you that I once corresponded with Kristi. After receiving my letter, which i distinctly remember including an invitation to sleep over at my house if she ever was in Kentucky, she wrote back and included this autographed treasure:
I loved the way she combined her K and Y. I may or may not have tried that myself a few times. Never could figure out how best to connect my A and G.
Unfortunately, after a diligent search, I cannot find the letter she wrote to me!! I am pretty sure that my mom threw it away, like she threw away the poster board collages of Olympics headlines that I made that year.
You can see how my mom basically admitted to throwing these posters away via text. But don't worry - I will continue my search and report back if my suspicions are proven wrong.
I did, however, find a number of treasures in the box of mementos my mom dropped off at my house. Allow me to share....
Your eyes don't deceive you! This is the original, authentic Sports Illustrated with Kristi on the cover! I'm not sure if you'll be able to tell from my iPad photo, but the cover is quite worn, from the many times I read the glorious story of her triumph!!! This magazine was tucked in the box near this medal, which I'm pretty sure is Kristi's authentic gold won in Lillehammer.
Or maybe my first place medal from the bike parade at Gram's house one year. Who can really say.
Next up:
This appears to be an early form of the e-mail forward -- sent by fax. This is a list of signs you might be a Beanie Babies addict. You laugh, but based on the documents that I found in the memento box, and the large number of Beanie Babies preserved in my childhood bedroom closet (any collectors out there looking to acquire some vintage Beanie Babies? Sorry, some don't have tags because I "loved" them and didn't just buy Beanie Babies as an investment. It was more a testament of my stuffed animal love). Evidence of my addiction:
1. Beanie Baby apartment lease information. The attorney who prepared these documents appears to be my BFF Tarryn based on the handwriting analysis that I performed.
2. And, family photos. Professionally made. (By me, so I guess not too professionally made. I gave myself a pretty good deal.) Keep in mind that this was in the days of real film, so I had to send these babies off for processing. And don't worry, this photo shoot was taken early in my collecting days. I have many more available for sale.
Moving on, I found this official Babysitters Fan Club membership card. I used my membership to secure some pretty sweet posters and banners, which I then used to decorate for my birthday party the year the Babysitters Club movie came out. I'm sure you're jealous you weren't invited.
And here we have some correspondence that I received while at Space Camp. (Does that make me a nerd?) The first letter(s) are joint letters from my cousins Paige and Claire and my aunts Kelli and Pat. RIP Rufus the neighborhood bully dog. "Heartattacks" are the silent killer, even of dogs.
And this nice letter from my little bro, written on his personal stationery. You can see from his letter that I was a germaphobe even at a young age. And you can see that Ross was quite the serious athlete - even though he only played at night under the cover of darkness so he wouldn't get too hot.
Next up -- more proof of my patriotic nature. A photo with the real Abraham Lincoln. I'm so glad one of my parents paid for this photo. I hope you can tell that I'm wearing my Washington, D.C. t-shirt, giving me more patriotic points.
My first business card: for my work at the Moolah Makers' Club. No task was too small for me and my neighbor Laura. I am pretty sure we didn't get any business from these cards or the flyers we made and dropped off in our neighbors' mailboxes. :( Entrepreneurship is hard!
And here's a shameless plug for my photography skillz. As you can see from this letter from the International Library of Photography, they wanted to include my photo "A Day in Norway" (pictured in the artist release below) in their anthology America at the Millenium: The Best Photos of the 20th Century. This was a huge honor, as I'm sure you can tell. As the letter states, "America at the Millenium is the most eagerly anticipated book we have ever published - and the most important!" And I appreciate how this book about America at the millenium was going to make room for my photo of Norway: "We believe your photo 'A Day in Norway' would add immeasurably to a better understanding of what our lives are like today." Because there is no better way to understand American life than to look at a photo taken thousands of miles away.
Don't all these relics make you want to be my friend? Understandable. But rest assured, loyal readers! I will take a trip out to my parents' house this very weekend to see if I can't uncover the letter from Kristi Yamaguchi ... or perhaps even more treasures like the above.
Stay tuned, and cheer for America! Particularly, Meyers/Evans, Matthew Antoine, and Ashley Wagner, my fantasy Olympians left to compete. Oh, and Yulia the Russian skater girl too, since she's my only non-American athlete.
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