Today has been one year since my moms death.

Our lives have been forever changed due to selfishness and greed but I am firm believer in our justice system.

About 25 years ago my mom started sharing her mementos from the past. Sometimes it was little things with the family history that went with them other times it was bigger things.

At Christmas time my mom would fix my sister and I a special package from the past with a note about the item.

One year it was special quilts from our great grandmothers collection. My mom never put names on the packages we had to pick a package with no tag that way she was not picking who got what. That year I ended up with the wedding ring quilt that I had always thought was so beautiful with its tiny hand quilted pieces.

Later on there were a few more quilts one my great grandmother Tumlin made for me when I was a child and my sister was given the one she made her as a child.

There was another year it was glassware and I ended up with the square hobnail milk glass pedestal candy dish. Then there was the first set of silverware of my grandparents, embroidered napkins my great aunt Bonnie made for my grandmother. The Battenburg lace table runner still starched and ironed I am sure by Mama Dot.

My mom thought since I loved the color blue I should have my grandmothers (Mama Dot’s) Pfalttzgraff Yorktowne Stoneware Dishes they were the Blue Cornflower.

Normally that seems okay but there is a box that is 4 foot high x 3ft wide full of serving dishes, soup terrains, pie plates, gravy boats etc. that I have never even used. I will never use them so there they sit in a box. The only thing I can think of to do is make some of them planters I hate letting them sit there another 20 years.

There was handmade lace & tatting from my great great grandmother and her siblings. The work that went into this type stuff back then is truly amazing.

I was given one of the large wooden boxes from Shanghai Japan my grandfather bought while on leave while in the service. This was from 1946/47 he was aboard the USS Los Angeles in the china sea. I am assuming this was when he was in the Navy but he was also in the Marines.

Another year it was very very old pictures of my great grandmother, great grandfather and grandfather when he was younger. Then there was my grandmother when she was a infant sitting on her moms lap. Each picture was in an envelope with a description of who was in the picture and the approximate time and place it was taken. I have a picture of my mom when she was three years old. My mom took the pictures she had and made us copies of them at Walgreens.

I remember asking my mom at the time” why are you giving us these things now”. Her reply was “I want to make sure you both have some special things from the past. If I give it to you now I know you got it and the history that goes with it. Then someday you can pass it on to another generation”. This made me cry and then before you know it we were both crying.

After my mom died last year it dawned on me that she knew if she did not give those things to us when she did we would never get them. It was her way of making sure we got what she wanted us to have and she was able to see us enjoy getting these things.

The treasures of the past are part of many past generations and part of my moms life and memories and now they are mine to share.

Thank you mom I will always cherish my things from the past and I am grateful you gave them to us ahead of time because that makes them treasures from the heart.

MEMORIES ARE GREAT BECAUSE NOONE CAN STEAL THEM!

Life is good!