~ Sweet Memories

"You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second, and think of it all your life."

~ Joan Miro

At 11pm last night I was wide awake. So, I made myself a cocktail, thinking it would help me sleep later on, and then headed into the guest room to go through my cedar chest.

On the very top I found my old teddy bear, which, by the way, was very loved. Under the teddy bear were baby clothes ~ outfits that the kids wore that I just couldn't bear to give away. I buried my face in one of Lynsay's little dresses; it smelled faintly of cedar but if I tried hard enough, I could recall that special baby smell. Ahh, the memories!

I pulled out all kinds of stuff ~ the guest book from my wedding, the pen that was used to sign the guest book, the shoes I wore with my wedding dress, the kazoo that the sing-a-gram person used at our wedding reception (seriously, who keeps this stuff??).

I found a plaster hand print of Ryan that he made in grade school and a Christmas wreath with Lynsay's picture in the middle that she made in grade school.

Old report cards from junior high, cards from my wedding showers and wedding (again, who keeps all this stuff??). My high school diploma, the cap I wore with my cap and gown, a beautiful beaded bag that I got as a graduation gift (why have I never used this, I wondered?), a book of poetry that my dad gave me on Valentine's Day in 1974 (reading this made me cry buckets) and at the bottom, in a far corner was THE doll. When I was very small, we had some friends who lived a few houses up from us.....the Peterson's. Rusty and my older brother were best friends in those days and our parents were very good friends. One year for my birthday, Joann (Rusty's mom) gave me this little doll with long black hair and big green eyes. Years later she was killed, along with their little girl, in a car accident and I just couldn't bear to ever give that doll away.

There were little odds and ends ~ a necklace from my dad, a gold English medallion from my mom, an old antique gold bracelet from an uncle in England, my "letter" from my cheerleading days and other little things.

There were letters from friends, cards from KJ and the kids that I've saved over the years and pictures....tons of pictures. Pulling everything out and recalling all those memories of days gone by really took me back. Back to the days when I was small, through my teenage years, through the early years of my marriage and the kids years as babies and toddlers.

It's funny how we save something and that one thing can trigger a memory or an event. Maybe we keep all this stuff to help us remember things that we don't ever want to forget. For instance, I have a cassette tape in my cedar chest of my dad's voice. When my dad was sick, one of the guys who worked for him at the radio station made a tape of the employees and their favorite memories of my dad and at the end of the tape, my dad talks to them, reminding them of how much they all meant to him. After my dad passed away, we all got copies of this tape. It was a timeless gift, and one that I've appreciated over the years because it's allowed me to keep my dad's voice close and I've been able to pull it out and listen to it when I've needed him. When I was in Oklahoma City, Lynsay sent me a text message telling me she wants to know more about her grandaddy so when she's here at Thanksgiving, I plan on getting this tape out and letting her listen to it. Then she'll know what her granddaddy's voice sounded like.

Sometimes I wonder ~ if we didn't have pictures or cassette tapes or cards & letters to remind us of the events in our lives, would the memories that we have be as clear? Maybe yes, maybe no but I do know this ~ all those things that I've tucked away in my cedar chest make those memories that much sweeter.

Maybe, just maybe we save all these things so we can share them with our children and our grandchildren and the sweet memories can be passed and shared from one generation to the next.

So, take lots of pictures and keep those sweet memories in your heart ~