Treasures, Memories and Mysteries

Memories

Sometimes things happen in our lives that end up making us feel like we've been on a treasure hunt of some sort.  That was often how I felt as a child when I'd go exploring in my Grandmother's upstairs rooms (that had become an attic, more or less, by the time I was a kid).  There would be hidden treasures in every corner I looked in, but none were more special to me than her collection of tiny salt and pepper shakers that she'd gotten from all over the country.  There were animals and covered wagons and all sorts of things, and I used to love rearranging them in the cupboard she kept them in up there.  

That attic had a smell all of it's own too.  If "history" had a smell, that's what it was.  Like a mixture of old wooden floors, linens that had been packed up too long, old newspapers, and dust.  Some folks might call it a "musty" smell, and wrinkle up their nose at it... but to me, it was the smell of memories.  Everything up there had some sort of story to go with it.  The rooms.... the dressers... the pictures on the walls... the little kitchen that wasn't used anymore.  It all had stories, and Grandmother was quite the storyteller.  

The Old Rolling Pin... with signatures all over it

Sometimes though, the "treasures" come from unexpected places.  One such treasure was bestowed on me by my cousins not long ago.  My Aunt (their Mom) passed on a few years ago and in the course of sorting through her stuff, they came across a mysterious item.  At first it was clear that it was an old rolling pin, but upon closer examination, it became clear that there was a lost story that went with the thing.  On it, some in ink, some in marker, some in pencil, were lots and lots of autographs.  Two dates, from in the 1940's, were on it as well, but nowhere was there any indication as to the event, or series of events, that lead to such an interesting memorial of sorts.  

There are enough signatures from church members, long ago passed away, that my thought was that it HAD to have something to do with some sort of organization that they had at the church at one time, but no one that I have asked about it (and I've passed it around at church quite a bit) has any idea of its origin either.  Everyone agrees that it has to have been something that was done at the church, but other than that, it remains a mystery.  

Signatures on top of signatures

So what do you do with a mystery?  I have had it preserved, and a stand made for it, and will be placing it in the new church library soon as it's finished.  Just because we're unsure of it's exact significance doesn't mean it shouldn't be given a place of honor.  It meant something to our ancestors of the church somehow, and who knows... maybe someday someone will see it and say "Oh, I remember my Grandmother telling me about this!"  

Things are like that sometimes..... things cast off become just so much clutter and junk, until someday they become symbols of memories... of times gone by and people we still miss after all these years.  Then they become priceless treasures... for while we can't get those times and people back, we can hold the "symbols" and remember.  

Maybe that's why Grandmother's attic was so full of this and that..... it was her Memory Palace packed full of memories of times past and folks long gone.  

Grandmother & Granddaddy  - Back in their Courtin' Days
Kin & Berteen Bailey