A Jar Of Memories

Sometimes it seems like a daunting task to sit down and actually get some work done. I was wanting to make some kind of earth shattering statement for my first blog post. I thought and I thought... and thought some more. Alas the blog post never came to be. It didn't pop out of thin air like I had hoped. However, I think for the first few posts I will talk about things that inspire me. Things that evoke feelings. Take for instance this jar of buttons and such on my coffee table. "It's just a jar of buttons.", you say.

Let's take a closer look. To me it's so much more than that.




It's a jar full of the memories of someone I loved, mainly those of my grandmother's.




This collection of memories most likely started sometime in the 1930's. I can remember her putting a chair up to the china cupboard drawer so I could climb up and fish through the drawer. It kept me busy for what seemed forever. I would find all sorts of wonderful things. Old skeleton keys, buttons, diaper pins, thimbles and tiny little action figure men that belonged to someones toy.

These are the things she had kept throughout her lifetime of 90 years. She had been through so much in those years including adoption, tuberculosis, the "Dirty Thirties", marriage, World War 2, 4 children, widowed and many long term illnesses. For me, each little button and pin tells her story. Who's shirt did that come off of? One had to be thrifty in those days. You might need it later. So you see it's not just a jar of "stuff". It's a jar of love. Little bits and pieces of love added to over the years.
I now use this to put my pincushion on and sometimes if I find something worthy enough, I add my own memories to the jar.