A few weeks, ago I wrote a blog entry about an old brown phone book. As I continue to purge and clean out the house I keep coming across items that cause a rush of memories. Also, a small package arrived in the mail this week that also gave me another piece of my past and provided another chance look back through the years.
The item I came across this week was a key ring.
Well not really a key ring, actually several key rings all attached and left in a bowl hidden in a corner of my kitchen counter.
As I started to look through all of them I couldn't believe I had so many. In fact, I stopped carrying them several years ago after I was warned that the weight of them might hurt my car. I was told that when I put a key into the ignition of my car and had that dangling weight attached damage might ensue. They could also be used as a weapon in the right situation and made my pocketbook ridiculously heavy.
The first one I noticed was a little leather strap. It has been attached to the first set of apartment keys from when I was first married. There were key rings from Disney World, Barbados, USC, Winthrop University, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, Missouri, the NY Giants, Yankee Stadium, a bottle cap opener, from the play Wicked and a Wicked Witches hat too..... and on and on. There was one that said New York New York from Jenn's 7th grade dance 19 years ago. Together they represented vacations, beginnings, hello's, I love you's, fun times, endings and goodbye's. The oldest key ring was over 35 years old......more than half my life was on those rings.
Some I tossed as I couldn't even remember why I had them and others.......I just couldn't toss away. Knowing me most of you are probably not surprised.....I am a sentimental sap and get attached to "things".
So there they sit.....in a bowl....meaning nothing to most who would look at them. I am sure someone would say "why"? But I look at them like a photo album....stages of my life....that I just couldn't throw away........
The small package that arrived in the mail from my brother, Greg, this week was another piece of my past. Before my parents house was sold last year, Greg cut some pieces of wood from one of the beams in the basement. Being the only real craftsman in the family, he took the wood and turned it into pens for his siblings. He included the number 33 on the pen to remind us of 33 Haven Terrace. That was a Raboni home for over 45 years. The wood from the pen was part of a home that was the center of our family. From graduations to birthdays to proms to weddings to christenings to wonderful holiday gatherings to gatherings after the funerals of Mom and Dad.....the pen represents the lives of George and Irene (Dad and Mom) and their 4 children. It symbolizes the laughter and tears and memories of a place that is no longer mine.
I held the pen and touched the wood. Such a small item that held years of memories both happy and sad. It held "i love you's" and "i'll miss you's" and "I'm sorry's" all in the small box and it's contents.
So there you have to two items that allowed me to look back with fondness.
As I held them both in my hands I smiled for what I held meant so much to me and reminded me that the memories embedded in my mind and soul are real.
I will buy more key rings as I continue to move into Chapter Three....there is still room in the bowl....
And as far as the pen....it will be used for special cards and letters and maybe just maybe .....I will use it at my first book signing bringing my past with me into my future.....
See you next week.......
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