Those gems you forget you have

One day a couple of years ago, I went to swap out one photo of my daughter in one of the picture frames on my desk at work for another. To my pleasant surprise, I found another photo behind the one in the frame. It was of my daughter at about 9 months old grinning big as my husband held her up on his shoulders.

I didn't remember taking the photo, though I probably was the one who did, and I also didn't remember getting a print of it made and putting it in the frame.

I love surprises like that, when I have no memory of storing some little gem, and then stumble across it again a year or so later.

On Monday night, it happened again. I tapped on the Voice Memo app on my phone, a function I rarely use, and noticed one I'd labeled, "The Giraffe Song." In it, my daughter sings a song about one of her stuffed animals with lyrics like, "I have a super long tail. I have a super long neck."

One of my daughter's stuffed giraffes.

Her singing is faint, indicating that I wasn't right next to her. My husband and I talk toward the end of the recording, making references to traffic, and we sound at a normal volume. Though I don't remember making the recording, I can pinpoint when it was made based on what my husband and I say as well as the date listed on the app. It was last summer while we were on vacation, right as we got to our hotel.

Odds are, I shut off the phone, and amid the check-in procedures, forgot I had recorded it. And there it sat, gathering virtual dust until Monday night when I played it, quite possibly for the first time.

I love finding stuff like that.

I wonder what else is waiting to be discovered.


Do you ever stumble across fun memorabilia of your children? Let us know what you discovered in the comments section.