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Yesterday, Today
and Tomorrow

Preserving Memories with a Family Time Capsule

By Mark Stackpole

"The value of a time capsule is in the recalling of positive memories of the past," says Melissa Pratt, a mother of two from Boise, Idaho. "It is also a way to look deeper into that time at things you couldn't possibly have understood then."

So what would she include? "I wish I had the local paper on the day my daughter was born," Pratt says. "Wouldn't it be fun for her to read on her 18th birthday? Things will have changed so much since then – current issues, fashion trends and even the prices in the advertisements would be entertaining." (Newspapers don't hold up particularly well over time, so consider protecting the paper or perhaps transferring the information onto a digital platform such as a CD or DVD.)

Pratt's 3-year-old son is just beginning to express his interests, so she would want to include something that would represent his emerging personality. "He loves airplanes, so perhaps one of his very small planes could sneak in there," she says. "When he opens it, we would be reminded that he wanted to be a pilot. Has he made his dreams come true?"

Riley's husband, Ken, wants the girls to have access to some very special forms of communication. "I would like a letter written by each girl about school, friends and whatever else is going on in their lives right now," he says. "We would put in a letter from each of us to each of them, expressing our love for them and sharing wisdom."

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