Buried in time

Published 11:59 pm Monday, June 15, 2009

Children have a lot to look forward to when they become adults — including driving a car, owning their own house and having kids of their own. Fifteen youngsters who live in The Woodlands neighborhood of Andalusia can add one more thing to their list — the chance to open their time capsule.

Saturday, about 15 children in the local neighborhood filled an old mailbox with items of both personal and timely significance. Twenty years from now, on June 13, 2029, the time capsule will be unearthed and the future inhabitants of The Woodlands will have a chance to see what Andalusia and the United States were like in 2009.

Angie Bowden helped spearhead the project when she noticed that her children were already running out of things to do during the summer vacation.

“My son was playing X-box one day and I was trying to think of something fun for the kids to do, and this was the idea,” she said.

Bowden placed flyers around the neighborhood, instructing the children living there to choose a personal item they would not mind sealing in a time capsule for 20 years.

John Allen Wise, 8, decided to put a small Auburn football in the capsule, both because he enjoys watching the Tigers but also for another reason.

“I think it will be a nice thing to maybe be able to give it to my kids 20 years from now,” he said.

When asked if Auburn would win a national championship by 2029, Wise nodded, but Hampton Glenn laughed and quickly responded with, “no way!”

Steadman Glenn, 9, chose a plaster mold of a fox paw he made during Kids’ College in 2005.

“It’s something that I made, so that makes it special,” he said. “I think it will be a great memory when I’m older. Maybe I’ll hang it on my wall.”

Several of the kids chose pictures of themselves doing activities they enjoy — such as playing sports and hanging out with friends. Will Black buried an American flag that he had made at school, in significance of the July 14 Flag Day holiday.

Anna Beth Bowden was not quite ready to give up her iPod for 20 years, but she did create a list of some of the technology she owns — including her iPod and laptop computer. Katie Black, who had the honor of burying the time capsule after it was sealed, chose a photo of her family and a photo of her friends on the soccer team.

Trey Jackson, 9, decided on his broken Game Boy video game console.

Each of the children who participated in the project signed an oath promising not to unearth the time capsule until the appointed date. The capsule, which was an old mailbox sealed with duct tape, included the writing, “Time Capsule 6-13-09 to 6-13-29.”