Nostalgia Over Cabin Key Plus Pinewood Derby

It is interesting what triggers memories. Sometimes it is the sound of something or even the taste of a food that brings back memories. In my case, coming across items in the house or on my key chain I carry around each day brought back memories. Our minds are amazing at what makes a connection that we will remember years later and what our mind chooses not to remember or prompt with prompts around our environment. For me, these are good memories that I came across and thought they were interesting to share as I enjoying remembering these items.

Key Brings Back Memories

Cabin Key Memories

I decided a week or so ago to clean off some of the keys on my key chain as I needed to make room for some work keys and came across a memory. As I looked through the keys on my key chain, I found a key that had notches on the sides in order to tell it apart from the other keys. I do not have a lot of keys on my key chain with nine keys total at the current time, as soon as I saw it I knew what it was and where it used to unlock.

The key was made years ago probably when I was in high school by my dad. The key resembled in shape other keys on my key chain at the time and in order to tell them apart, my dad took the key to the grinder on the work bench and did notches on the sides. I still remember him taking the key from me, grinding it, and handing it back to me saying now I will be able to tell it apart from other similar keys.

The key was my key for our cabin out at Lone Star Lake. Seeing the key and remembering how I got it, who made it, and that I had been carrying it around for all this time brought back a lot of memories. Fond memories of going to the cabin to hang out on a evening, or weekend, to spend time with family and friends. We had a ski boat, paddle, Jon, and other various boats. We had a lot of fun out at Lone Star Lake and spent a lot of weekends growing up and through some of my adult years having fun at Lone Star, working, or a little of both. 

While the key was given to me by my dad and the notches so I could tell it apart from other keys, I also recall it was given to me as I was heading out to the cabin to do work. I remember not looking forward to the work at the time, but now I would love to have that place back to spend time hanging around the lake and enjoying the day.

Pinewood Derby Memories

Pinewood Derby Car

While Carrie and I were cleaning out a room in our house, I came across my old pinewood derby car. It had been in a box that my mom gave to me on one of the various times throughout the years she has handed over “my stuff” to do with it what I want. As usual, the stuff handed over to me through the years tends to sit in the same boxes she gave them to us in and then they sit in our house. In this particular case, I found the old pinewood derby car and put it on the shelf in our bedroom.

The pinewood derby car was built and designed with the assistance of my dad way back when I was in grade school. I was in Cub Scouts and still recall doing the building and racing in the gym at Sunset Hill Elementary School in Lawrence, KS. I recall putting on the coins to the car to make it go faster, putting in weights in the back to help with weight, and sending it down the line to test all while my dad was helping me to do the adjustments and tweaks. Where I ended up in placement of the pinewood derby race, I have no idea. It is simply another good memory I recall of my dad and I working on a project together.

What Else Will We Find?

As we continue cleanup and throw out of items from our house, it will be interesting to see what else we come across that sparks memories. As I mentioned at the start, it is interesting how our minds work and just by coming across something familiar from our childhood years brings back memories of that event, person, or experience. It was good to remember these experiences and made me laugh that I had the key on my key chain when our family sold the cabin back in over five years ago. I know I decided at the time to leave the key on my key chain as I wanted to remember the settings. For now, the key will go in my drawer to find another time when I can remember again about the family cabin.