I learned a lot from my grandparents, the way they lived and the things they said. My grandmother had a standard line for certain 'tragedies.'If it was spilt milk or juice she'd smile and say "Aren't we lucky. Everyone wishes they were rich enough to wash their floor with milk" (0r juice - or homemade chocolate sauce... whatever spilled!)
And when she lost something she'd say, "I hope someone who needed it more than I do has found it." She even said this once when she lost $20.00. Twenty WHOLE dollars - a fortune to my five-year old self.
I try to do the same. Really. But before it's always been on a small scale - favorite sunglasses stolen out of my car. "I hope whoever took them needed them more than I." A favorite pen that I left at the library and was missing when I got back, "I hope whoever found it enjoys it as much as I did."
But this time...it isn't so easy. I picture someone going through our stuff. Tossing out the things they consider unworthy - photos, personal letters.
Okay, enough of those thoughts.
No memory to share today. But a friend told me that this blog reminder her of a poem by Elizabeth Bishop and I'm honored. So, I'm sharing the link to the poem ONE ART
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212
About Me
- List of Things Lost
- * * * * October 2007, I discovered that everything we had left in storage when we moved abroad is now gone. The next day I bought two blank notebooks, one to record a List of Things Lost and the other I've titled MEMORIES FOUND. * * * * * * In November 2007 I started this blog to share the list as it grows and the memories as they are captured.
4 comments:
What a lovely woman your grandmother must have been, to give you that gift of reframing, turning lemons into lemonade and wishing well onto those who did harm to you.
Hi Angela, I used to be a part of your critique group. I could feel your sadness while reading your blog. Elizabeth Bishop's One Art is one of my all time favorite poems and graces the pages of my notebook for the days I feel lost.
When I was younger my parents house caught on fire and we lost everything in it. I remembered how brave my father was and his words stuck with me. He told me that though we lost the home we created our memories in we didn't lose our memories. He also advised that as long as we still had each other than nothing too valuable was lost. I know it's hard to have lost momento's that helped bring back those moments in time but everything important is packed away neatly inside of yourself. The rest is just visuals. I hope that you gain new items that will help create new memories so you can come to peace with the ones you lost
God Bless, Maribeth
www.marnini.wordpress.com
Emily
Thank you! I pass on the lessons I learned from my grandma to my girls. We don't worry about spilt milk, or lemonade, or ice tea. In fact once when Alexadnria was about 5 or 6 "I can do it" She spilled her milk 4x at the dinner table in a row - trying to pour it.
I just thought, "When she's off on her first date, I'm going to wish she were sitting here spilling milk!"
Maribeth,
Nice to hear from you again! I agree with your father's words. We keep things to remember things, but if the items are lost, we still have the memories and that really is what is important.
I realize how lucky I am that my things are missing from storage and it is not as though my home were broken into or the devistation of a fire.
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