I have a cedar chest that belonged to my grandmother. After she died, my mother brought it back and told me it was my hope chest, filled with things from my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration and other family heirlooms. I think I was about 7 when all this happened, and for many years it was a sort of ritual to open the chest and remove each item for inspection before returning it to the chest. More a memory chest than a hope chest. Over the years I've moved some of the items to more visible daily spaces and some I shared with my brothers or got rid of altogether, making room to store some of my own memories I had no place else to put. I was searching in it the other day for the box where I kept cards and ticket stubs and other ephemera from my marriage when I spotted this box, a Made In Oregon box, and had no idea what might be in it.
Whether the two are truly connected, my ability to located where I'd put or stored pretty much everything I owned started to fail me after my husband died. We moved a lot and I suppose part of my memory system was tied to the fact that at each new location, I could store things similarly to the last place. Many boxes and shopping bags never even got unpacked from one place to the next. That started to shift with my first new place on my own which was quite different, I exchanged shopping bags and boxes for the now ubiquitous plastic bins, and few if any boxes remained unpacked. Suddenly there were so many things I could no longer put my finger on, and I've spent many frustrating hours rifling through boxes, drawers and bins looking for things that I just KNOW have to be in a particular spot, yet are not. Are you experiencing the same thing as time goes by? It's particularly annoying to me since I've always thought of myself as a fairly organized person.
I was truly surprised then to open this box and discover sand dollars! We lived for 3 years "behind the second dune" in Westport WA, taking daily walks with the dogs down to the ocean's shore where I collected so many of these, fascinated by the markings. Not wanting to take them from the careful packing, I moved a few aside to see that there were several layers of these.
I've actually been thinking about them for awhile, ever since I saw this idea in the photo above for an easy way to add color to ribbed shells with a Sharpie marker. But I was very sure they were in a shoebox in the last two moving boxes still in the garage untouched. Surprise! They were closer than I thought. I'm pretty sure my rock collection is in one of those boxes though, although now I'm not so sure. Just can't trust my memory anymore, apparently.
By the way, today is National Quilting Day, and I have been busy piecing more strips of the Kaffe inspired baby quilt. With sections sewn together, I've been able to move to the design wall and work over the top of what's on it to help me in arranging my lozenge rectangles. It's working out well. What are you working on to celebrate National Quilting Day?
4 comments:
Don't worry, you're not alone in the failing memory department. I, too, have always been extremely organized and always knew where every little thing was despite many moves. But more and more I'm starting to wonder where in the heck this or that is!
What a lovely discovery--and bringing back a happy memory! I love those blue shells, too!
Periodically, my husband will wonder out loud where the canvas firewood carrier that belonged to his folks has gone. He 'thinks' he found it a couple of years ago, but recently he's been trying to figure out where it went after that. Me? I don't remember finding the second one (one is sitting by the fireplace) so I'm no help with this little mystery at all! Some of us celebrated National Quilting Day at a really fun retreat, socially distancing but so happy to be together! There sure were lots of show & tell projects finished during the past year! Stay well! Jan in WY
I think one of the reasons I need the need to be so organized is because I have a pitiful memory….and it gets worse as the years go by. Locating where something has been put is one really annoying factor as my memory gets worse…..as long as I can continue recalling the good happy times I’m okay with a few lost items.
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