Small Junk, Big Memories

Why is it that when you lose a loved one, each piece of their so-called "junk" attaches itself to a memory of some kind?  I am a sentimental fool by nature so when I lost my Granny a couple of months ago, childhood memories began to flood back to my mind and my heart.  Things I hadn't thought about in years suddenly consumed my days and certainly the still of my evenings.

When walking through my home, it's easy to find these attachments in every room, every nook and cranny and inside the confines of closets.  It's easy for me to understand why some people love to meander through the aisles here at Picker's Paradise Flea Market picking up every little knick knack that they remember sitting on Grandma's coffee table.

When my Papaw passed away in 1994, I gained a sudden affection for a pair of his pinstriped carpenter overalls.  I don't have a photo of them but I do have a pair tucked inside a storage tote at the house.  I do however have his shaving cup and brush and a carpenter pencil sitting on a shelf in my craft room. 

My other Pap has since then passed as well and I got a small sampling of things inside a cookie tin.  Inside this tin were his sister's (my aunt's) workforce labor form, some old marbles, and a pair of old, rusty scissors that I am to assume belonged to my Pap during his school years. 

These are my great grandfather's pipes and pipe stand and yes - I have Prince Albert in a can and I know I need to let him out.  For the younger generation that do not understand that statement, it was customary for foolish boys to make prank phone calls by asking if "you have Prince Albert in a can" and when the person on the phone said "yes", the boys would say "well, you better let him out"!  Ashamedly, one of those foolish boys was my husband.

I come from a family that loved music.  Guitars, mandolins, and other instruments were played on a weekly basis at an open air amphitheater in our small town.  My Granny wrote songs constantly and had connections to some famous people and even wrote a song for a country singer named Gene Watson that became a number one hit.  I found a couple of old autographed photos and a letter while going through some memorabilia at my parents' house a few weeks ago.

 

The following photo shows the intensity of my Pap's love for music.  I remember him sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing his red and black checked flannel shirt listening to song after song of bluegrass and country music. 

 



Make sure you love your loved ones while you have the chance.  I am so thankful that I can look at a shave mug, a set of pipes, or some old autographed photos and remember so many wonderful times.  I think the thing that touched me most while digging through the envelopes of photos and unpublished pages of song lyrics was a card that I had given my Granny several years ago that said "I love you Gran" at the bottom and she had written in "We love you too".  So, here's to you Granny . . . 

 

 

Helen Imogene Warren

1931 - 2013