I have two glove compartments, a bottom one that has my vehicle manual and an envelope with years of insurance and registration paperwork, and a top one that has glove compartment type stuff in it. Today I’m going to go through my glove compartment and talk about each item in there.

Floral cloth facemask. This was sewn by one of my colleagues. When Covid shut the world down, she kept sewing and sewing them for all of us to use. Good thing, too. Disposable face masks of all kind of became inaccessible , and when you could hunt them down, they cost you an arm and a leg.

A pair of scissors with green and pink handles like the colors of a watermelon. You never know when you are going to need to cut something.

A plastic rain bonnet, the kind your grandmother wore in the ‘50’s. This one is white and I added black polkadots with a Sharpie marker. The bonnet is tucked neatly inside of a plastic Ziploc bag.

A green zip case with a sloth on the outside containing binoculars. These were used at high school football and baseball games to see the action more closely, although sometimes in particular for the football I didn’t want to see too closely as my son was tackled.

Black nylon cord wrapped up and tied in a knot.

Hand warmers that activate when you open the package and rub them vigorously. They stay warm for 12 hours. I still don’t know the science behind it, but I do know they work for the football games, keeping your hands incredibly warm.

A sheet of plastic folded up into a small rectangle. I know what this is as I have several in my house. When the cereal bag is empty, I carefully tear it apart at the seams, cleaning any food residue off with a wet paper towel. These are great to use to wrap sandwiches and reuse with gentle cleanings in between use. I’m just not sure why it is in my glove compartment.

A Mobile Oil rebate offer all ready to go in the envelope with the receipt as well as the mail in coupon for it. Had I sent this in six years ago, I would be $9 richer today.

A package of croutons, the kind that come with a takeout salad. Those were put in there should I cascade down some type of hill, leaving me trapped for days on end. As I’m looking at them now I realize a source of water would be more important in a situation like that. Eating one salty croutons a day certainly would intensify my thirst to an untenable level.

A small piece of an M&M package.

A metal from completing the Stratton Faxon Fairfield half marathon in 2011 which was worn that entire day. When all the cars were broken into on our street several years ago, I recall being so worried that the thieves took my metal out of the glove compartment. They had ransacked the glove compartment, but fortunately left that there. It certainly has much more value to me than to them. I’m unsure why I still haven’t brought it into the house yet.

Two little glass marbles in a purple mesh satchel tied with a purple ribbon. A small slip of paper inside reads In Memory of Patricia Fappiano. I don’t remember if this was given out at her wake, funeral, or the memorial event we did for her at work. She wasn’t feeling well, went to the emergency room, and passed just a few weeks later. She was a pretty cool colleague. She once borrowed a basket from my office to rescue a kitten. I’m not sure why these marbles are tucked away in my glove compartment, though. Perhaps it was too painful of the time to keep them out, and I literally put them out of sight.

Glove compartments can be such a treasure trove. I am curious what items other people keep in their glove compartments. It is an interesting trip down memory lane.