Old things are my favorite things. There's just no getting around it. Old friends, old treasures, old memories. Some days are just meant to remember the things now gone, but still deep within my heart.
Two special birthday cards from my mom and dad. Sent to me many, many years ago, when my mother could see enough to sign a card and could still remember who I was. Beautiful cards she might spend hours selecting and then another half and hour writing a simple greeting, and maybe two more weeks to remember to get down to the Douglas, Alaska Post Office to mail them south to Oregon and to me.
A time when my father always, always signed the cards, too. When I was the apple of my father's eye and apples were always his absolute favorite kind of family tree. A time when he would get on the phone and call me 'sugar' and ask how I was. A time now gone by, when the only sound of their voices are simple camera or cell phone videos, and one old answer machine message as they wished me "Happy Birthday" on December 24, 2009.
The last time my dad would ever be able to wish me Happy Birthday before he died that next August. The last time, my mother could still hold a phone to her ear by herself and talk before she passed away one week after I was able to wish her a "Happy Birthday" last September. "Thank you." she said. The first words she had said in weeks, if not a month, my brother told me. How wonderful that I was able to hear her and that she could still recognize my voice over the phone and speak to me. My mother and father are gone now, but that message and these little treasures remain.
An antique sewing box filled with all of the mementos and treasured from the dibs and dabs from my Alaskan grandparents home that became our home after they passed. A challenging time, a loss, can lead to changes in our lives and a new way of seeing everything around us.
Each item reminds me of one thing and that memory leads me to another and another. Things we are given, things we collect, things we find and treasure along walks or out in nature.
Treasures in time and space and memory.
Old spools, an antique ruler, scissors and thimbles and pins. Tiny bits and dabs put into a mason jar with one of those favorite '80s jar lid pincushions we all made and many of us still have and use. . Mine has a small pair of 'stork' scissors, and antique thimble, small spools of thread, my grandmother's buttons, a paper tape measure.
I am in my tiny little sewing nook today. And as I sew and as I putter, I glance at all of these things and I remember.
I'm feeling nostalgic but happy. Grateful to still have my memories, filled with gratitude to have a quiet and peaceful day at home. To sit, to sew, to remember good people, and good times, among the old.
I'm in my little sewing nook today, but I'm doing so much more than just sewing, I am remembering everything about all of my special sewing room things. I can still remember.... and I'm just so grateful that I can.
3 comments:
I know what you mean about old things. So many don't appreciate them and toss things out that others would hold a sentimental value for. I used to worry that my kids wouldn't know what to do with it all when I am gone. But then my daughter talked about memories she had of certain things in our home so I never again worried about keeping things. My grandson's surprised me with much the same thoughts.
xx, Carol
A sad but beautiful post. It is so lovely to see someone who treasures things from the past, especially those that remind us of loved ones. Angel hugs to you.
It is funny how little things that are of little value can be such treasures. They are valuable to us because of the memories that they hold. I have a photo of me as a baby that my father carried in his wallet for thirty years or more. When I became a mother he put the picture in a little frame and wrote a note to me on the back. I hold that little picture very dear!
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