I was going through an old box of memorabilia the other day and noticing that many of the paper items were in less than optimal condition, materials that had special messages written on them with markers had bled out and run together, and a kindergarten graduation cap had the color completely removed from it. Upon further inspection of the box I began to realize why some of the items in the box where in such poor condition. I remembered how I had received this now rickety old box as a Christmas present (most likely from Wal-mart) as a child. Most of the rivets had been popped out and been lost, the material of the box was some sort of low grade MDF board, no doubt, and you could tell that the metal frame was constructed of some cheap type of aluminum. It was obvious that the box wasn’t in the best of condition anymore, but what caused this collection of grade school paperwork to have become so rippled?

Well, recently I have been re-introduced to the idea of the good old cedar chest. It wasn’t till I started to dig into discovering what was so great about a cedar chest that I found the answer to why my grade school papers had become all wrinkled and rippled. I mean somehow I knew that keeping something in a cedar chest somehow preserved it, but I had no idea why. So I utilized my good little friend "Google" and found that the natural oils in cedar repel bugs and insects and that cedar absorbs moisture, which therefore prevents mold and mildew from forming, and obviously the very nature of a box blocks out damaging light and UV rays. I also learned that contrary to the popular belief that clothing stores better being hung, that it actually damages them by stretching and distorting them opposed to when they are folded and stored in a drawer or chest. I think the main reason why people hang clothes for storage is to avoid any wrinkles or ceases, but when you think about it, those can easily be ironed out.

As I went through my little treasure chest again, I became really disappointed at how so many precious memories had been destroyed by discoloration, bleeding, and rot. It simply made me sick when thinking about how simple it would have been to prevent. My true desire is that through my mistakes many will learn this lesson before it costs them there precious memories.