dress up

When I was a kid, I used to love to play with an old tin of buttons my mom had. It was a red Christmas looking tin filled with assorted buttons of every shape and size. She used to put a string on a needle, tie a knot at the end and let them thread them to make a necklace. I picked through the tin to find the ones I wanted. My two favorites were the brown corderoy (hey, it was the 70's) and the gold nautical themed one. I would carefully put them all on the string until it was long enough for a necklace. I never actually wore it. I just cut the end and let them all fall back into the tin for next time. I think it was just the process I loved. It was something purposeful I could do with my mom while she was sewing.

Hadley loves to watch me put on make up in the bathroom. My mom said she remembers my older cousin doing it too when she was a baby and living with them. My mom kept her makeup in a wooden box on the back of her toilet. I remember looking through it all. She'd explain what she was doing as she applied it - she called blush "rouge". It's a special rite of passage between little girls and women. It's a special time when girls can just chat about girl things.

I still remember this silver dangly necklace of my grandma's that my mom had. Hadley loves to play dress up in my jewelry. I have a bunch of costume jewelry and she loves to go through it and try it all on. I'm a sucker for family heirlooms, nostalgia and mementos. Dayven calls this "packratting". I call it "sentimental".  I have an old ring that my grandmother gave my grandfather when they were dating. It's tiny and dainty and can barely fit on my pinky (man, people were small back then) but I still love it. I still have a gold seashell charm that my godparents gave me at my first communion. It's now on my charm bracelet with all of my other mementos.

I am still lamenting the loss of a sterling and turquoise turtle ring I had when I was a kid. I loved it and can remember every detail of it exactly. I think my parents bought it for me as a treat when we were on vacation. We didn't get a ton of things like kids do today so when you got something it was really special and meant something. Sadly, it didn't make the cut on one of my occasional attempts to purge. It wasn't worth anything and probably ended up in Goodwill. I really wish I had it now, but that's just the packrat talking.

I'm hoarding it all away, with all of the special memories attached. Someday it will all belong to my kids and their spouses. Hadley always looks through my things and stakes her claim on what she wants - "you're going to give all this to me someday, right mom? " We'll see if she's as excited when it really becomes hers. There's a chance some of it may find its way to Goodwill someday!