Artifacts

There is a box that sits on my vanity. There is a box stuffed in the back of my closet. There are folders and movies that I will not even look at.  There are journal entries I do not so much as glance at.  These are the artifacts of lost love. 


Archeologists dig in the dirt. They sift through layers and layers, in the search for a relic of someone's past life.  Shards of pottery that are elaborately decorated, tools, arrowheads, sometimes even clothing.  Through the discovery of such small items, archelogists have been able to understand ancient civilizations and their way of life. What would an archeologist find out about me if he sifted through the artifacts of my lost love?


In the journal entries, he would see that I was a worrier.  He would regard me from the lists I made in my entries about what to do with my life, as someone who was indecisive at points in her life.  He would seem my happy reminisings about spending time with my sisters in college and see the pain of separating from an old boyfriend.  He would see the joy, the worry, the tears, and the happiness that my next would bring. 


In the folders he would see magazine clipings, stickers, and photographs.  He would see "love" quotes that I tried to find when I felt like my words were not enough to express how I truely felt. He would see scrapbook pages that I had made of happy times.


In the box in the closet he would find photographs from 2 weeks of absolute love bliss. He would find 5 letters in their envelopes. Letters that I read over and over again to keep me sane while I was at basic training.  He would find a poem that was written just for me. He would find a bird dog, an Irish teddy bear, and a duck.


In the box on my vanity he would find rings. He would see a beautiful diamond ring that resembled my grandmother's. He would see two matching bands. 


What conclusion would the archeologist come to? Would he assume that I was one of the fortunate ones who found their soulmate during my lifetime? That I became wife, mother,and grandmother? Would he presume that I waited for my soldier's return with no avail?


Would the artifacts of my past properly reveal my life's conclusion to an archeologist?