Passing on Memories

A love of bugs brings me to this post.  Entomology to be exact.  When I was about 12 there was a 4H class offered on the subject, and it just so happened that the elderly man teaching the class lived just a few houses away. Understand, please; in our small town everyone was just a few houses away. A deep friendship grew up between us fostered by click beetles and luna moths.  It didn't hurt that his lovely wife made excellent cookies and even more, we shared the same birthday.

Twice, he gave me a present for my birthday.   One was an amazing paperweight with flowers inside and the other was a beautiful brooch.  It looked like a gold ribbon winding around eight small blue cameos.  I hope that he knew how much I loved them both because 12 year-old girls are not always the best at expressing thanks.

I still have them both and although part of the cameos have fallen out, they are still there.  Nice little story, you might be thinking but so what?  Here's the "what". 

Last year our oldest granddaughter, Isabelle, asked for a reproductive vintage dress for Christmas.  She looked lovely in the blue dress and has since added underskirts, camisoles and a hat.  So, this year for Christmas I went to a local vintage clothing store to see if they had anything she might like.  I found two hatpins, a small clutch purse and two vintage necklaces.  It was while I was wrapping them (and hoping, hoping she would like them) that I remembered the brooch.

Where was it?  In the far back of my jewelry drawer. Where all the cameos still there? Yes. I would need to have a jeweler fix it and maybe appraise it.  As I held it in my hand and remembered Mr. Ihrig and all the fantastic things he taught me with such enthusiasm, I wondered if I really wanted to part with it.  In the same area was a delicate pearl necklace that had belonged to my mother-in-law. I asked my husband if he would mind giving it to Isabelle.  He thought long and hard, just like I had but agreed she should have it.

Isabelle is 15.  It seems like some sort of right of passage that we gift her with these items this year.  Yes, they hold great memories of some wonderful people in our lives.  We could keep them and feel justified in doing so.  But to what purpose? To let them languish in a drawer, never worn, not often remembered?  Instead, we have chosen to pass not only the gift but the memory of the giver to her.  That's what keepsakes like this are for.  We are given them to enjoy then keep them for someone's sake.  Although we didn't know it, we were keeping these for Isabelle's sake.

Now, we have two more granddaughters and one grandson. It's time to start thinking about the keepsakes we are holding for them.