The Meaning of Things

Today I am preparing for a special holiday. I put on some great music, count my blessings that the weather is gray and rainy; a perfect day to spend inside cooking and preparing. This is truly one of my favorite things to do. For few special occasions throughout the year, which I can count on my hands, that we celebrate , I like to pull out all my family heirlooms. I don’t have many, but it seems so important to me to use them and in doing so I feel that those from whom they came are with us at the table, though they have long left this earth. I glance at the bunch of tulips I purchased to brighten the table and decide my grandmothers small silver trumpet vase will hold a few perfect stems at the table that will be crowded with platters and baking dishes. The silver is tarnished and so the silver polish must be employed. I lovingly polish the trinket and ponder it’s dollar value, which I recently researched on e-bay. No matter that the dollar value was not exceedingly high, this item is priceless to me. This vase is one I will pass along to my children, and they will know that it came from their paternal great-grandmother. I hold this item in my soapy hands and think of her and feel the loveI still hold in my heart for her. We speak of her often, as we speak of all the lost relatives. We keep them in our lives this way and by way of holding physical items they themselves held. I try, to not have much attachment to “things” as they are just that and love, health, people and our earth seem more important. But, some of our “things” have an incredible power, not in the object itself, but in the objects ability to carry with it a memory. The power to keep someone with you, who is no longer. The object can connect this way and can thereby be a vessel with incredible depth. So do not clutter your life with many “things” but do hold on to a few precious items that can be heirlooms, memories and a way of keeping those you have loved with you and your family always.