Just one? Oh grief. I’m the original pack rat. The house is stuffed with stuff, the cupboards are past bulging, the shelves are overflowing and many of our heaps have mini heaps of their own. So you’d think that there must be many cherished items around, all with their stories to share.
Not so easy. So much of it is just stuff that I’m terrified to get rid of, just in case, one day we need it. I don’t know quite what I think I’m going to need ancient bed lined, or accidentally tie dyed towels for, but that’s part of the problem. Working out which bits are truly cherished is far more difficult.
I have a few pictures, but not as many as I’d like. I rather love my piano – a beautiful big present from dp early in our life together, but I don’t play it nearly as much as I should. OK, I hardly ever play it, and it’s a crime ๐ Once upon I had a second hand rocking chair that I loved, but we left it behind in a move, because while the funky fabric had been cool and chic when I was a student, it really wasn’t gorgeous and funky any more. And the chair didn’t rock, it sort of slouched.
A cherished item. It isn’t the items I cherish, it’s the memories they prompt. So my phone, my soon to be replaced, not at all smart, battered and maligned Blackberry Pearl, I cherish that. But only for the sake of a saved text message, as it’s the last I ever got from Katrin. And I know that I can’t hold on to those few words for much longer – one of these days the phone will fail to turn on, and that will be it, gone. Such a fragile connection reaching in to the past.
That’s too sad a note to end on, so instead I’ll leave you with a picture of a cherished bear. Once upon a time I think he was plush and maybe brown, now he’s sad and floppy, but I love him anywhere. Isaiah, in case you were wondering. (Because one eye’s higher than the other. Yes, well.)
Here are the other entries in this carnival:
The Diary of a Frugal Family shares her family’s most Special Things.
Scribbling Mum tells us about her photo wall.
Make Do Mum writes about a precious item in Tick tock tick tock.
Cheeky Wipes gives us her cherished item in Tables Aren’t Just For Eating At….
Red Ted Art tells us about her DIY Hobby Horse.
Snipsnaphappy tells us about her cherished item in My Granny’s needle.
I Need Curtains for the Window inside my Head writes about the pieces of jewellery that mean the most to her.
Tiddlyompompom tells us about Adopted Ted.
Freckles Family shares A treasured possession.
Mymumdom posts about A Small Boy’s Treasure.
Notes From Home posts about her cherished reclaimed box.
Alison says
Of course, if you had a wedding ring, it would have been that ๐
Jax says
But of course. It would have been an emotionally significant purchase!
Amanda says
I can relate to that, in a way. My best friend bought me a a very pretty bracelet which I wore all the time, a few months later she died, the bracelet has been repaired and altered many times,( the remaining beads are now a phone charm) Maybe you could do some art journaling with Katrin’s message.
Jax says
I was thinking about taking a picture of it, but wondered if that was just being pathetic. Hmm.
Jax says
(And I’m sorry about your friend. Hugs.)
Tbird says
can you not download the text to your PC? I have a few stored from ages past that I can’t delete and they sit in the Nokia software and smile at me every time I sync the phone. It’s not pathetic, it’s something to hold onto. Hugs.
And I have a bear in a similar state on a high shelf of honour in our living room!
Michelle says
Can you not forward the message to yourself? Copy and paste?
Love the story behind the Isaiah name ๐
Make do mum says
My mum has got an Isaiah bear too (named for the same reason!). Yours looks well loved.
Cara says
Ah, I have a tatty ted too this week. He hasn’t got anything as grand as a name.
Your message from your friend sounds so precious. How about having it embroidered onto something?
Jacq says
I couldn’t think of anything material I cherished when I wrote my entry, but you’ve reminded me I do have a tatty teddy. DD2 has him on her bed, but he was originally mine.
Scribblingmum says
Nice that you still have ted. I’ve been thinking about my own childhood ted since I wrote a post a few ago and just can’t shake the awful feeling that he might not have made the cut in the latest house move, eek. It’s tricky to pick one isn’t it?!
Cheeky Wipes Helen says
Love the name of your teddy – brilliant logic. No suggestions for the text message that sound anything other than trite…hope you work out some way of keeping it though?
Amanda says
fwiw i don’t think you are being pathetic. Take a photo (hugs).
ella says
Such a lovely post, and I think whatever way you find to keep that treasured last text – photo or other – will be perfect.
Love your bear, he looks well-loved ๐
mamacrow says
ooo, lovely lovely post. LOVE the bear’s name.. reminds me of the bear called Gladly because it was cross-eyed (gladly the cross i bear…)
HelenHaricot says
hmm, i have 2 cherished phones now, the lovely orange stripe nokia, where i have the last messages from my mum about little nanny, and the newer nokia, which has hundreds of i love yous from my sister. i know they are ‘just text’ and would stil be from her if i downloaded, but somehow they are far more really from her on my phone. I think even if one day i cannot turn either on, i will be keeping both phones, because they are a symbol of a link of love. A link i don;t think i will ever be able to bear to lose. However, taking a pic of the phone with the message, that seems somehow to be ok. i totally understand jax. Hugs for your loss.
Cass@frugalfamily says
Aw I love your bear ๐
I would take a photo of the text if I were you, it’s the little things like this that are nice to put away somewhere safe and just take out every now and again x x