Old Keepsakes
Some things just have to be kept. I have a few things that value has nothing to do with, I just won't part with them. The older I get, the more they mean to me
The farm we grew up on wasn't owned by our parents. Mrs. Lepp owned it. She and her husband didn't farm and I believe she had inherited it. They were sweet people and very good landlords. I remember them visiting us after a trip to Canada. I remember that sounded "rich". To be able to travel. And, Canada sounded so far away when they talked about it. I don't remember what gifts they brought the rest of my family, but I still have mine. A small statue of a deer fawn. About 3 inches high and made of bronze. It is sitting on my T.V., just like it sat on every T.V. in every house I've ever had. I've long since forgotten why it was originally so important to me, but I couldn't part with it now. I've hung on to it through every husband and every move and every year since I was a small child. My oldest keepsake.
One of the other things I've hung on to is a coin. Brother S was being punished for some such long forgotten. He had been told to sit on the cistern till they told him he could get up. That was really the only punishment that ever worked with S. He laughed at spankings. Yelling didn't effect him. Grounding didn't work either. But, not being allowed to move did bother him. Feeling sorry for him, I was sitting there with him, listening while he grumbled. He was kicking up the dirt in front of the cistern and had dug a shallow hole with his shoe, when something caught his eye. Picking it up, he realized he had a coin. But, we didn't recognize it. It was the wrong size and it was very dark in color. Even after we rubbed it clean. One side has a shield like picture and the words IN GOD WE TRUST on a ribbon and the year 1867. Civil War era. The other side says UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the edge, surrounding a circular bundle of wheat with 2 cents in the middle. S and I got very excited. We imagined a treasure buried by the old cistern during the civil war. We spent a lot of time off and on over the next few days digging around that cistern. But, we never found anything else. S lost interest and let me buy his 2 cent piece for a dime so he could buy a comic book. (Which gives you an idea of how long ago that was!) I have the coin in front of me right now. At 139 years old, it's in amazing shape. I got a good deal for a dime, but the last time I looked it up.....it will never make me rich.
I also have an expansion I.D. bracelet. I can't remember when or where I got it, but I must have been pretty small. It doesn't come near going over my hand now. It's engraved with all three of my maiden name initials.
The most precious keepsake to me, involves an opal ring that my brothers went together to get me one year for my birthday. Not my birthstone, but I'd always loved and wanted an opal. Marquise shaped in a 10K band. It meant a lot to me that they would do that. I wore it for years. Then one day I was opening the trunk of the car when it got away from me. The lid hit my hand hard and the opal was shattered. So was I. I kept all the pieces I could find in my jewelry box with the band. It lay in my jewelry box for a long time. Then one day I had an idea. I reset the band with my Niece's birthstone. Since I didn't have any daughters and since her Dad had given it to me, I thought she would like to have it. I still have the pieces of opal and though they aren't big enough to do anything with, they do remind me of the brothers who mean so much to me.
That's what old keepsakes are for.
The farm we grew up on wasn't owned by our parents. Mrs. Lepp owned it. She and her husband didn't farm and I believe she had inherited it. They were sweet people and very good landlords. I remember them visiting us after a trip to Canada. I remember that sounded "rich". To be able to travel. And, Canada sounded so far away when they talked about it. I don't remember what gifts they brought the rest of my family, but I still have mine. A small statue of a deer fawn. About 3 inches high and made of bronze. It is sitting on my T.V., just like it sat on every T.V. in every house I've ever had. I've long since forgotten why it was originally so important to me, but I couldn't part with it now. I've hung on to it through every husband and every move and every year since I was a small child. My oldest keepsake.
One of the other things I've hung on to is a coin. Brother S was being punished for some such long forgotten. He had been told to sit on the cistern till they told him he could get up. That was really the only punishment that ever worked with S. He laughed at spankings. Yelling didn't effect him. Grounding didn't work either. But, not being allowed to move did bother him. Feeling sorry for him, I was sitting there with him, listening while he grumbled. He was kicking up the dirt in front of the cistern and had dug a shallow hole with his shoe, when something caught his eye. Picking it up, he realized he had a coin. But, we didn't recognize it. It was the wrong size and it was very dark in color. Even after we rubbed it clean. One side has a shield like picture and the words IN GOD WE TRUST on a ribbon and the year 1867. Civil War era. The other side says UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the edge, surrounding a circular bundle of wheat with 2 cents in the middle. S and I got very excited. We imagined a treasure buried by the old cistern during the civil war. We spent a lot of time off and on over the next few days digging around that cistern. But, we never found anything else. S lost interest and let me buy his 2 cent piece for a dime so he could buy a comic book. (Which gives you an idea of how long ago that was!) I have the coin in front of me right now. At 139 years old, it's in amazing shape. I got a good deal for a dime, but the last time I looked it up.....it will never make me rich.
I also have an expansion I.D. bracelet. I can't remember when or where I got it, but I must have been pretty small. It doesn't come near going over my hand now. It's engraved with all three of my maiden name initials.
The most precious keepsake to me, involves an opal ring that my brothers went together to get me one year for my birthday. Not my birthstone, but I'd always loved and wanted an opal. Marquise shaped in a 10K band. It meant a lot to me that they would do that. I wore it for years. Then one day I was opening the trunk of the car when it got away from me. The lid hit my hand hard and the opal was shattered. So was I. I kept all the pieces I could find in my jewelry box with the band. It lay in my jewelry box for a long time. Then one day I had an idea. I reset the band with my Niece's birthstone. Since I didn't have any daughters and since her Dad had given it to me, I thought she would like to have it. I still have the pieces of opal and though they aren't big enough to do anything with, they do remind me of the brothers who mean so much to me.
That's what old keepsakes are for.
posted by LeeAnn | 5:14 PM
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