This week I have two furry house guests, Cujo and Rocky. They are staying with me as their master is having surgery and may not feel like taking them outdoors. They are so easy as they mostly lie around. They occasionally catch a glimpse of a bird or squirrel outdoors through the large windows, then they leap up and bark wanting to go out for a chase. I look forward to this week as I feel somewhat protected with them here and I will have all of this week to finish some projects that have been put aside for just such a time.
One thing I have been revisiting in my mind is the things which I once treasured but are now lost to me. When I was about eight years old my parents went on a winter trip to Florida and I was left behind. I do not recall feeling sad about that but I felt happy when they returned as they brought me an Indian doll made by the Seminoles in Florida. She had rows of ruffles on her dress and was very colorful. I have no idea what could have happened to her, probably I neglected to take proper care of her.
Also when I was quite young I was given a china tea set for Christmas. The cups and saucers and tea pot were very small and the handle on the tea pot was woven reeds. It probably was made in Japan as so many of those kinds of toys were at that time, and now too !! I recall having it for many years as I did treasure it.
My favorite books when I was young were Anderson Fairy tales and a large story book with full page pictures. I believe it was part of a set of encyclopedia belonging to my parents. One picture I liked to study was of a little girl in worn clothing in a winter setting. She stood outside of a building as one would see in a large city. The picture itself looked icy and cold as did she. She held a small light in her hand as to warm herself. The story that accompanied the picture was "The Little Match Girl". Those books were around for a long time, but now are lost forever. Around this time I was given my first Bible. It had wonderful pictures of Biblical times and the beautiful, colorful clothes the characters wore. I actually do still have that Bible but it is worn and torn and has no cover. I have strong feelings for it and would not part with it willingly !
Some gifts of jewelry which made an impression on me are lost also. I think I gave some of them away to nieces of mine. One was a silver pin of a thunder bird with a piece of blue turquoise in the center of his chest. My boy friend brought it to me from Blowing Rock, N.C. when he went to visit his grandparents there. At a different time he gave me a ring with a square emerald in the center. There was no particular reason for him to give me a ring so I did not really understand it . In a generous moment I do recall giving it to my niece Mary Lynn Riddle when she was a young girl.
Another piece of jewelry form my childhood was a gold necklace with a heart, anchor and cross attached to it. I still have the cross but the rest is long gone. My father had given this to me when I was twelve years old saying it would remind me that "my heart was anchored to the cross".
When I was in college at Eastern in Richmond, Ky. I was majoring in Art and had made a lot of paintings in oil and also charcoal and colored chalk. Most of these things were stored in my parents basement. Unfortunately the Cumberland River which flowed behind our home ran over its banks during a prolonged spring rain and our basement was flooded. The water came up to the top of the stairs leading down there and everything was lost , including my mother's canned goods from the previous summer. That is my limited experience with floods and I can empathize with the folks who lost all they had to floods this September in Georgia.
It would be impossible to keep all of our childhood treasures forever. The passage of time and changes in living places and ways of living just take its toll in different ways. I cannot complain for I was guilty of causing my children to lose something they treasured also. When they were young around the ages of 7, 8 or 9 I had made little cloth dogs for them. The one for my son was green checked gingham and the one for my daughter was pink checked gingham. I made them for them at Christmas and they were identical. After some years had passed and they had outgrown those stuffed toys I gave them away to a neighbor child without asking their permission. I learned how much they valued them when they saw them laying out in the yard of our neighbor. They were crushed to see their own dear toys had been cast out so carelessly by their mother. If I had known they treasured them so I would never have given them away. This past year I made a diligent search online to find a pattern to make those same doggies over again, to no avail. A lesson learned, do not discard the property of others. The old adage still applies, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
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