Life Lesson #5: Live Today as you want to be remembered Tomorrow
Handkerchiefs. They’re not so common anymore, but for many of us, a simple hankie brings to mind women and events in our pasts. This one belonged to my maternal great-grandmother, my Nannie; its meticulous design lovingly transformed by hand into one of the few things of hers that remains.
Every time I see it–tucked in amidst the crystal–I think of Nannie and the love she showed me for the first 8 years of my life. And every time I see a collection of hankies, I wonder about the woman who left them behind…
Awhile back I came across a pile of handkerchiefs at a local thrift store. Someone had taken the time to affix a name to each one: Mary Berry. Of course, I don’t know Mary’s story, but she apparently liked brightly-colored florals, and I suspect this collection made its way with her, perhaps in the Winter of life, to a care facility–thus, the need for the identification. …For only pennies apiece, I couldn’t resist rescuing them.
Last weekend, I did what I’ve been wanting to do; I knotted them together…end to end–memories of a woman unknown to me dancing on the breeze. What kind of life did she live? Does anyone hold memories of her close in their heart? Were these all of her hankies…or does someone somewhere treasure a favorite?
Me? These are my favorite kinds to collect…
And my favorite kind to use…
How do you want to be remembered Tomorrow? Are you living that way Today?
Did you miss a previous Life Lesson? They’re all listed HERE.
Lovely sentiments in this post! Old linens get me thinking about the women who have come before, too.
Wonderful post! I have a handkerchief chest that was my grandmother’s, filled with her handkerchiefs, many embroidered and/or with her initial in various forms of needlework. She mastered every type of handwork and taught me some of them. I need to blog about that handkerchief chest!
Tricia, I’d love to see you do that post! What a “treasure chest” you have.
I love this idea. When my mother-in-law passed away the box of linens was given to me to do something with it all. I decided that the best thing to do was to sort all of the handkerchiefs and I divied them up between all of her granddaughters. I was able to keep two of them because I gave each of the 8 girls the same amount. I’m going to have a throw pillow made using one of them with the initial from her maiden name. I’m going to try to figure out a way to get each of the girls to read this post. They’re all young enough that I’m not sure any of them appreciates the magnitude of what they have (my own daughters included). As these young ladies mature with marriage and motherhood hopefully they will appreciate this gift that their grandmother left behind. Most of them were embroidered by their great grandmother.