Little Artifacts
Many of the things archeologists unearth today, created by now-long-lapsed civilizations, tend towards the mundane: a fragment of pottery, once part of a jar, used to hold water. Or a metal coin, exchanged along a trade route for goods and services. Or a stone tool, used to cleave meat off of some ancient hunted deer, or rabbit, or buffalo.
When these quotidian objects were manufactured and used, their value derived mostly from their utility. Unbeknownst though, to the people using these objects, the very fact of the objects’ existence and use in that time and place, also invested them with another kind of nascent value, which, only compounded across the decades and centuries, actually comes to maturity. I guess the same can be said about any antique object.
This makes me think of all the little artifacts - the slices of life - that my kid produces on a daily basis, and how I might view them decades down the road: a ring, made of woven rubber bands, which is terribly uncomfortable to wear. Or a note, passed to me surreptitiously during a video call, written to inquire about a play date with a certain best friend, and upon which I am encouraged to mark the YES or NO box to confirm the existence of aforementioned play date. Or the back of an envelope, upon which is written a list of candidate invitees for a yet-to-be-planned birthday party.
So collect these things - the more seemingly routine and workaday, the better - photograph them, and note their significance (Says me, who is admittedly something of a memory hoarder). But as important as just documenting these things, is actually writing your kid a note, to tell them what that thing is all about and why it’s important. Because just like some colorful tile, once part of a beautiful bathhouse fresco, but now buried under layers of dirt and debris, so goes with photos in your photo library. Writing your kids about them is a great way to facilitate the future excavation of these now-mundane, yet future-priceless objects.
Or - even better - why wait? Maybe we should be treasuring the heck out of these little artifacts right now.
