“I have my grandma ‘s meat fork and each time I use it I think of her fondly. I can still see her using it.” Marsha
Those things, objects that have meaning for us. They often remind us of another person or a meaningful time in our lives.
I love that Marsha shared her “object memory” on my post The Broom and The Bell. I invite anyone reading this to tell your story about an object that has meaning for you too.
So how does my own hat fit into this I wondered as I thought of posting the photo I took of it.
Jon bought it for me years ago in an actual hat shop in Brooklyn. We were visiting his daughter Emma and he bought a hat for each of us. It’s been a while since I’ve worn it, but this year I rediscovered it.
I always thought it had character, and think of it as my Leonard Cohen Hat, because it looks like something he might have worn.
But since embellishing it with the feather and bird I feel it’s become mine.
I was wearing it when I found the turkey feather in the woods and stuck it in the hat. But still, the little brass button holding the ribbon was visible and had little to do with me. I thought of replacing it with an old button when I decided instead that the Bird Brooch that my friend Emily Gold made was even better.
Now I’m thinking the ribbon could use some spicing up. I’ll take another photo of it if I do. I suppose this is an evolving object memory.
So please, don’t forget to share your “object memory” by leaving a comment or sending me an email. I’d love to hear your story.
And you can see more of Emily’s art on her website Papercakescissors.
My maternal grandmother had a stroke the Spring of my senior year of college. I was starting law school that fall, but I spent the summer with my mother and grandmother, my grandmother in a nursing home and my mother and I staying at her apartment to clean it out because she would never be able to live there alone again. My mother encouraged me to take a lot of her kitchen items, because no one else needed them and I would be setting up my own apartment in the Fall. The last time I saw my grandmother I burst into tears, and her last words to me were “Don’t cry for me.” I was really crying for me, but didn’t say so. She died a few months later. To this day, decades later, I still have her stainless steel mixing bowls and kitchen utensils and fabulous collection of cookie cutters and recipes and I think of her every time I use them.
Your grandmother sounds wonderful Jill. How nice to have kept the things you got that summer and how they are still a connection to your grandmother. Thank you.
I have a red striped candy dish that belonged to my Baba. When I was little (a long, long time ago), she always had a couple pieces of my favorite candy in it. Now I always try to keep a few pieces of candy in it for my grandkids.
Oh Deb, that’s really such a beautiful tradition passed down. And so simple and direct. I can just picture the candy dish.
I have an old spinning wheel that came from my great grandfather’s farm. He raised cows, pigs, chickens and sheep – a little of everything. I remember visiting the farm once when I was young. To a city girl like myself, it was a magical place. Great Grandpa used the spinning wheel to spin yarn from his own sheep. I even have an infant sweater that someone knitted from that yarn. My daughter will get the spinning wheel when I’m gone. We also have an old mantel clock from the farm that will go to my son. I love the idea of preserving this family history.
Oh Barbara, a spinning wheel that your grandfather used with his own wool is a wonderful thing to have. There is something so ancient and magical about spinning. This and the clock really so go a long way in keeping that connection between generations alive and real.