Memories

Thinking about our special memories of people and places . . .

I'm writing this at my "new" desk, which replaces the table that I've been using. Actually, it is an old oak teacher's desk with a special meaning for us -- it was my husband's grandfather's desk when he retired as a school superintendent in New Hampshire. I feel honored to be using the desk of someone who served his country in war and served the children in his community.

We have still other things that represent the people who are important to us -- the spindle-backed couch that my grandfather slept on, the camera that my father had, hand-written recipes that my husband's grandmother used, needlework that my mother made, walking sticks that my husband's father and grandfather used. We also have many things that represent the places we lived and visited as we grew up in the military -- yearbooks from California, Nebraska, Iowa and Germany, mugs and glassware from Germany, lacquerware and seashells from Okinawa. And our years in New Hampshire have added artwork by friends, lighthouse and horseshow photographs, shared recipes and wines.

As important as these objects may seem to us, it is really the shared memories attached to them that we hold dear -- memories of the people who were and are special to us.