Testimonials

At Excelsius Services, we take pride in the stories of lives we touch and enhance. This month, we share the touching story of Alina Lascau titled... The Time Traveling Box.

My father in law used to say: “we are 4 generations from being forgotten”. I didn’t think much about this, until I found this box, a few years ago. It was sitting in a corner of St. Vincent du Paul store and it grabbed my attention because of its antique look. Antique doesn’t mean old, it means treasure to me. I opened it and to my surprise, I got to see old pictures, some for 1905. The life in pictures of a few generations of beautiful people…for $20. A box full of memories. I bought it to save them from banality, from mortality. I got it with the intention to write on social media about this and return it to the family. Maybe it was brought by mistake at St. Vincent, or maybe it was lost - I told myself- and decided to buy it and find the family it belongs to. 

 I remember being so fascinated with this idea of playing detective on social media to find the descendants of the people from the pictures. There is so much reverence in the box and so many pictures of people belonging to a different world, different century, different generations. Never took the writing too light. I wanted to be able to match the majesty hidden in this time traveling box, and waited for the right time to sit down and write its story. Then I realized I don’t know the story of the box. What if someone disposed of this for a reason ? And I did not find the right time to write its story. 

 The time traveling box accumulated more time in my house. I bought it to save those pictures from being thrown away or forgotten and I forgot about it. Ironic. I forgot about them until now. I just realized that I can pay a tribute by sharing the story on my website. It’s my way of telling you that your story will never be forgotten once it’s written. My first story of the month has to be the story about bits of life surprised in pictures across time. Then I realized that the pictures are more powerful than my words and they can tell their story better than I can. Silent and sober in sepia color, or vibrant in colors, I let their story dancing before our eyes. I take a bow and I listen quietly. The $20 box became invaluable. We all have a precious story ready to be told. And I am here to listen to it , treasure it and make it transcending time. Make it immortal.