In 1999, I was given a task along with the other kids of my generation in my family. We were to fill out an information sheet to go into a family time capsule, to be buried in the front yard of my Great-Uncles house (a house that had been my Great Grandparents), to be dug up an opened in 2010.

Time just seems to move so fast sometimes. As a child, I couldn’t wait to be a grown up, able to stay up all night reading (without having to hide the fact I was doing so), eat what I want, watch what I want; control my own life. Now, looking back, it’s hard not to long for the simplicity of youth. Not that my childhood was idyllic. There were certainly challenges and hard times, yet the wider family group always felt like a lovely safety net in a way. A large group of people that you shared a link to that couldn’t be broken despite family feuds, distance or death.

2010 came and went and the family felt shrunken, like a body missing vital limbs as we lost wonderful people in a short space of time. Instead of parties, the wider family was only coming together for funerals. The magic of Christmas was lacking, and we each carried an ache that kept increasing with each loss. My beloved Grandparents, my amazingly kind uncle (who had the idea for the time capsule), were gone. Life for those of us that were left, marched on and we each coped with our loss in our own ways. In 2015, my father died and the time capsule seemed like a distant memory belonging to somebody else.

At different times, the time capsule would be mentioned in passing by an uncle or a cousin. In the ground it stayed. A repository of childhood memories, hopes and dreams. Last year, the last of my grandfathers’ brothers passed away. He had lived in the same house all his life, and like the time capsule, was a repository of memories. When seeing Uncle Clive, he could always remind you of some wish you had as a child, or art creation that had been presented to him and treasured. The family home of 93 years was being put on the market, and the time eventually came to unearth the time capsule.

Life gets busy and as you grow, you create a family for yourself and naturally spread your wings and largely fly from the nest. My family has certainly spread, yet those that could, gathered today to open the time capsule and take a step back, to 1999.

Catching up with the extended family was a wonderful way to spend the day. Gathered at my uncle’s property, surrounded by national parkland, we congregated on the lawn while the time capsule was opened for the first time since it went in the ground.

One of my younger cousins, who wasn’t alive when the time capsule was created, had the unenviable task of deciphering the messages that had been interred. Although the pages were laminated, moisture had inundated the capsule yet surprisingly the entries were still quite legible, and although one of the more damaged of the pages, my entries are still visible. I’m quite impressed that my handwriting at the age of 12 wasn’t too shabby, and I’d written over my initial entry written in pencil with a pen. It was a good think I had my pen licence in 1999, otherwise my entry would likely have been illegible with the water damage.

Below is a phot of my entry from the time capsule, complete with some rather random drawings (I never was much of an artist and have no idea why I drew an elf or an ice-cream…). I have blanked out my full name and childhood address but the rest of the image, is as it was today, seeing the light after 27 years.

My entries were:

Age: 12

DOB: 25/12/1987

I have zero idea why I wrote December, maybe my brain switched to thinking of Christmas, although the year is correct). Funnily enough, I wasn’t the only one who wrote birthday incorrectly…

What is your favourite hobby? Reading and Writing.

What job (career) do you want after you finish school? Author/Reporter.

Note: I had a vague recollection of that being one of the questions we were asked and had been trying to remember what I would have listed at that age. I had been guessing Librarian/Author (my idea being I could spend all day reading and introducing people to wonderful stories, and spend my nights writing), or doctor (which I was interested in for a short amount of time but then had far too much time spent around hospitals due to Dad’s illness).

What are your predictions for the future?

Hopes. That everyone will have achieved what they wanted to. And that they are happy & peaceful enjoying life 😊

 

So, I wasn’t some Nostradamus type, that we can be sure of. I didn’t predict any advancements in science and technology (which with the new millennium fast approaching would have been a rather safe card to play).

 

If I was to speak to 12-year-old me today, I would let her know a few things. Life is going to be damn hard at times. We will lose some amazing people and feel like we’ve had our heart ripped out multiple times. But things will get better. And that while I am certainly not a reporter, I can happily say that I’ve continued to follow my passion with writing. I hope 12-year-old me can recognise herself in the woman we’ve become and feel a sense of achievement in the steps taken to pursue our dream.