Today's prompt was, Health Time Capsule: Pretend you’re making a time capsule of you & your health focus that won’t be opened until 2112. What’s in it? What would people think of it when they found it?
But seriously, all joking aside, what would I put in a time capsule? What is even supposed to go in a time capsule? All I know of time capsules is my foggy memory of a hometown time capsule my class helped fill one year in grade school. As far as I know, it is still buried at the local park where we left it all those years ago. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a time capsule is: "a container holding historical records or objects representative of current culture that is deposited (as in a cornerstone) for preservation until discovery by some future age". Historians suggest that items which describe the daily lives of the people who created them, such as personal notes, pictures, and documents, would provide an excellent snapshot of daily life during a specific time period and greatly increase the value of the time capsule to future historians.
So with that in mind, this is what I would put in my time capsule, for my future historians to find (the future historians I have in mind are my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and their families).
Besides the obvious stuff, family photographs, home movies, and personal diaries (although honestly the thought of my future historians reading my personal diaries horrifies me!), I'd also include pictures I've taken of places I have traveled to and lived in; who knows what those places are going to look like 100 years from now or even if some of them will exist. I would include a family recipe scrapbook too, filled with allergen safe recipes (and maybe a few special ones that aren't), along with the stories behind each recipe. Wouldn't it be wonderful to make your great-great-grandmother's famed allergen friendly dish from a recipe written and explained by her? I am pretty sure my future historians will still have to eat food and they will also be able to tell the stories behind them as they share my dishes with friends and family. What else should be included? Something about frugal living? Maybe I would include a list of tips on how we lived frugally; who knows some of them still might apply 100 years from now! And if not, it might at least provide my future historians with a good laugh! (e.g. like how their great-great grandfather would limit the amount of toilet paper used to four squares a wipe.)
In the end, my hope is in 100 years my grandchildren or great-grandchildren will open up my time capsule to reveal something about their long forgotten heritage, learn something new about their family history, and understand where their food allergies and intolerances came from, read about my struggles and challenges, and see how I overcame them.
What started out for me as a challenging first theme ended up really making me think about what I want to leave behind for the future generations of my family. Maybe I won't actually go to the extent of burying a "time capsule", but, at the very least, why not have a box full of personal belongings and stories for grandchildren and great-grandchildren to learn about me. It is kind of a romantic idea, like writing your memoirs, but I kind of like it.
I would love to hear from all of you in the comments what you would put in your time capsule! Check back tomorrow for Day 2!
(Sorry this wasn't posted sooner, it took me a while to convince my husband to dig my time capsule hole this morning!)
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