MY TREASURE CHESTS

I shared that I asked my Granny many years ago to write down how her and Papaw met, places that they lived and anything funny she wanted to share. She did take the time to write this out for me and it has been tucked in my hope chest along with other treasures. I put it in a folder labeled Granny’s memories, also I typed it in my computer naming the document Granny’s memories and sent it to family. I recently went through my hope chests revisiting times and places and the life and memories that each possession held.

When I was seven years old I loved Strawberry Shortcake and I desperately wanted a Strawberry Shortcake blow a kiss doll. Mom got it for me. If you squeezed her belly she would blow a kiss that sincerely did smell like strawberries. Unfortunately as I got older and had a sister I gave it to her and she did not take care of her but…years later I got her back. I still have her and her kisses still do smell like strawberries. I also had Barbies then. I use to get a new Barbie every report card day if the report was good. This only lasted a year but twelve beautiful Barbies were earned. I had peaches and cream Barbie, Day glow Barbie, Day and night Barbie and many others. I would make my cousin Andy be the judge of the Barbie beauty contest Ha Ha. Sadly I gave them to my sister when I had outgrown them having no idea of their value. My sister was rough as a corncob as they say and she tore heads off and lost their clothing. She did not appreciate my Barbie friends anymore than my cousin Andy did. I regret not having them but…the memories are fond to visit occasionally.

When I was eleven or twelve my Papaw built an auction house. He and my Granny would go to a place called Davis’s and get brand new merchandise for cheap and run it through the auction. My Papaw loved that auction house and the socializing that accompanied it. I use to work in the kitchen with my Granny. It was fun I had an uncle who was crazy (the good kind of crazy) he would auctioneer and he would sing to the crowd, cuttin up and having fun, everyone laughed and had a good time. My Papaw got me a plastic musical bride doll that stood a foot and half tall. You would wind her up and she would play music and her upper body would turn and her head would move up and down, and her eyes would open and shut. I still have her she is perfect except her head does not move as gracefully as it once did. This was a precious gift from my dear sweet Papaw that I will always treasure.

My mom use to have a huge music box collection. She had a glass shelf that she would set each box on. I use to enjoy looking at them and playing them. When I was a late teen she gave me the only one that she had left. It is a woman in a huge ball gown with a bow in her hair. She still plays music and spins around as if dancing across a ball room floor.

I have had a VCR/ DVD player combo for a couple of years. I have never used the VCR until recently when I found in my treasure chests two VCR tapes. I put the first one in and it was me and my husband when I was seventeen and he was twenty it was our first summer together. It was awesome! The other one was a huge thrill it was after we were already together for ten years and we lived in the “Bible-belt community.” I was outside filming our big beautiful yard outlined in pines with the creek across the road. The most beautiful thing on that tape was all of my babies(dogs). There they all were even my precious Randcy. Starting in 2009 I lost one every year from old age for five years. So imagine how wonderful it was to visit with them again. I was reminded of how much they were loved and what an amazing life that they all had. I had only watched the one of me and my husband once and the ones with the dogs I had never watched until recently. It was a blessing.

In my hope chests I have the original ring box that my engagement ring came in and the original box that our wedding rings came in. I have a scrap book I started after we got together, I kept up with it for probably three years. I have love letters and poems he wrote me. He got me many real bouquets over the years and some I have laminated but one time he got me thirty something artificial, roses and each had a card attached. On each card he named something he loved about me. I still have those cards inside of a pretty little box tucked safely in my treasure chest.

After my Papaw died the following Christmas my Granny made all of us pillowcases out of his shirts. It still brings tears to my eyes to see and touch them. I have his pocket watch and chain with a train engraved on the front of it. He had a large drawer in the dresser where he would keep things he prized and enjoyed, different funny stuff the family got him and many other things. The pocket watch was one of his treasured items and I am thankful that it is with me.

I have quilted albums. My Granny went through pictures and snuck and made all of us album for Christmas. She quilted each of them. The album started with our name and a poem with each letter representing something sweet. Another treasure.

Eventually my oldest cousin had a baby and it was a girl her name was Brittany. She lived away when she had her and fortunately she came back to Kentucky while she was still new born. I was thirteen and could not wait to get home from school to go to Granny’s and see her. I fell in love. She was my pass time and weekend fun for a long time. I am happy to say I was a big part of her life. I remember when she was first potty trained and I was newly with my husband. We walked her to town it was summer and hot and she said, “I am sure glad I have my panties on.” She was celebrating her liberation from the hot diaper lol. We took her to a pizza place and she called pizza “pitsta.” She is grown now twenty eight and beautiful and has the most awesome and creative daughter in the world. I have drawings that her little girl has done for me and my husband added to the collection of love gifts. She was the first baby I ever fell in love with. I have art work she did in high-school, a painting of big beautiful flowers stretched across canvas and drawings on paper. This same cousin had a second child and he was a boy a brother to Brittany his name is Blake. By the time he came I was an adult and he was our weekend fun. I hardly missed a day visiting him. We would pull up in the driveway and he would run over to the picture window throw back the curtains so excited to see us. I would run through her house with him like a crazy person. Sadly they moved when he was nine or ten and he would spend a few weeks with us in the summer and his Christmas vacations. We would play video games together he loved video games and still does. He had a class assignment when he was ten, he had to write a letter of appreciation to whomever he wanted. I was his pick. I still have that sweet letter he thanked me for loving him, and for being a nice cousin even though I felt more like their aunt. He ended it with and I quote “And I love your food.” Ha Ha. I have a ring that Blake got me. His class had to do different things to earn gifts for Christmas and they had gifts on a table and they could pick out what they wanted, he picked me a ring too sweet. It is still in my treasure chest along with the letter. I recently read that letter to him he enjoyed it as did I. He is twenty three now and a hard core rocker which I love and appreciate and he still enjoys time with me. I so appreciate my lovely cousin for sharing her kids with me and giving me a taste of being a mother and a chance to love and bond with them.

My sister began having children the first was a boy his name is Tyler he is fifteen now boo hoo. Tall cute as a button and keeps me laughing. I have his little plastic red hammer that he packed faithfully everywhere that he went. He also gave me a ring that he got at church.

The second child to come was my first niece Tayler Cheyenne. She is thirteen Yikes and absolutely gorgeous again yikes! We have had a bond since the first day she popped out Ha Ha. I always ask her, Do you know what I wish”? She would answer back “yes” and I would ask “what?” She would reply, “You wish that I was yours?” BINGO that is the right answer. I will be asking her that when she is thirty. I have a big beautiful Cinderella book I bought to keep at my house for her when she was two years old and every-time she would visit she and I would read it together. She loved it. It is still in my treasure chest. Her second or third birthday ironically was a Strawberry Shortcake party and I had a lot of pictures. Every-time she came to the house she would say, “I want to see me.” I knew what that meant so I would get the albums out and we would look at those pictures. Ha Ha. Unfortunately she despised dolls especially Barbie she was an arts and crafts girl. When she was ten years old she wrote me a letter telling me how much she loved me and how awesome of an aunt I was. It was another sweet letter that I will cherish all of my life. I have many pictures she colored for me dated month and year and her age. Many pictures she drew for me. Every keepsake from all of her parties. I have a friendship bracelet that I use as a book mark she gave me. Then came another nephew Tucker he is basically a twin to Tyler except he has blue eyes and Tyler has brown. I jokingly told my sister she is the only person who I know can clone kids. He is sweet and I have pictures he has drawn for me. He is eight and plays football and is sensitive like me. Last but not least my second niece (my sister stayed busy lol) Bella, she just turned four and is a cracker jack. She is full of personality. She loves Barbies Yay! I got her a 24 inch barbie for her birthday this year. It was as big as her and she packed it around everywhere. It was an outside party so I stepped inside to get Tyler talking British. He can do an amazing accent even though he is a country boy. I cant get enough of it so I filmed him a while. I am a strawberry blonde and my sister nick named me red so the kids always refer to me as aunt red. Bella comes and gets me and says while grabbing my hand, Come on aunt wed lets talk. She pronounces her Rs with Ws so flippin cute. She is such a girlie girl and loves shoes and dolls. She is still a hardcore frozen fan. I suspect I will eventually have treasures from her as well to add to my chests of love and memories and I look forward to it. I have keepsakes from all of their parties that they will enjoy looking at some day.

Along with my treasure chests I have an attic that holds some good stuff. My wedding dress and every stuffed animal my husband ever got me, bears that I could literally hide behind of. One of my most treasured in the attic is a big blue tub full of my Baby Randcy’s toys. I had her 17 years. She loved her stuffed animals and took very good care of them. In my hope chest I have a shoe box of my house dog now Sheba’s first toys she was four weeks old when we got her and she had a small beany bear and elephant that was her size, their eyes are ripped out of their head lol Her first ball a small little red and white soccer ball with a hole in the side of it. Even now seven years later nothing has changed Sheba’s toy basket looks macabre full of headless, eyeless, gutted stuffed animals lol

My small hope chest has a red and white starburst quilt my Granny made me for a wedding gift folded neatly across it, and my big hope chest has the wedding ring quilt she made laid across it. The dutch girl quilt is folded neatly in my closet and I pull it out every spring and summer because it is so colorful. Each dutch girl has a different color dress and bonnet in each block, bright vibrant colors Orange and pink and blue some calico dresses very, very sweet I LOVE IT! I spread it out during the day putting it away at night to keep it nice.There are many other things not mentioned that hide in those chests but I hope you enjoyed what i have shared.

All of these things represent life, the beautiful moments and this is where I encourage all of my lovely readers to camp at today. Go to your treasures and reminisce with gratitude for all the precious memories and wonderful blessings of your life. I heard it said, lets choose laughter over war. Very good statement. This is how we should live.