I seriously love this story. I received this photo along with an email from a newsletter subscriber. She read my article on clutter-free souvenir ideas and it made her think of the fishing lures and bobbers in her home. I loved it so much I just had to share:
When I read your newsletter I immediately thought of something my husband recently did to organize something special. I have included a picture. When my father passed away last November, my mother had a hard time parting with some of his things. My husband loves fishing and when she found some old lures and bobbers she asked my husband if he would want them or had any use for them. My husband was quick to reply, “Yes! I would love to have them”. I wasn’t quite sure what my husband would do with them or if he would just toss them in his tackle box. I was pretty excited when I came home to find this:
My husband had found a beautiful way to display my dad’s old fishing memorabilia and a way to keep them protected from little ones. Now, every time I walk by those jars I think of my dad and all the wonderful times we had when we went fishing on family vacations.
I love this story for a number of reasons (in fact, just reading it again gave me a whole new round of goosebumps.) So many people I encounter have their precious memories stuffed in cardboard boxes on a shelf in a storage area in their home. The man in this story found such a beautiful and meaningful way to bring the memory of someone important, his wife’s father, out in the open and on display—and in such a simple, beautiful way. This display allows the husband and wife to remember wonderful memories on a daily basis—fishing on family vacations. This, to me, is what it’s all about. Having what we love out and on display, filling our homes with wonderful feelings and memories of a special person or event. Seriously good stuff.
So, I asked everyone to share their favorite, non-traditional souvenir ideas, and you didn’t disappoint. What fabulous ideas you all had! Thank you. So, let’s do some more sharing, shall we? I would love to hear how you store and display your most precious keepsakes and sentimental items. The thing is this…when we get these really special items out in the open we find we don’t need to keep everything to hold onto our memories and honor the people we love. A few carefully selected and displayed items fill our homes with enough joy and connection to the past and our loved ones to sustain us. So then we find we just don’t need as many cardboard boxes full of mementos in the basement. You know what I mean? So, if you have ideas for getting your precious memories out of a box and into the sun, I know a whole bunch of blogging friends would truly benefit from your ideas.
I can’t wait to hear your ideas. 🙂
As I read the post (loved the story, by the way, and the photo…simple but stunning display!)and your words about not having things in cardboard boxes, I realized that I have photos from a 1998 (!) trip to China that have not seen the light of day in a very long time.
Even if I haven’t organized them perfectly into albums, I can set out a small, simple, pretty box with some of the China trip photos in my living room or office…so that I can walk by, pick up a handful of photos, look through them and reminisce about my three weeks in that beautiful country.
I’m sure I’ll find other items to display as well. Thanks for a thought provoking post!
gave me the goode bumps too… thanks for sharing this!
not so much about getting the stuff out into the open, but more about reducing the clutter that we cling to… I am a packrat. I admit that. I hold on to every special program, ticket, and scrap of paper I think might be important someday down the road. So, instead of holding onto ALL of this stuff, I have started collecting the items (that it’s possible to do this with) abd taking photographs of the things I want to remember. Those photographs get put into a special “remember” album. And I have a “treasure bag” (someday I’ll conver this to a “treasure chest” of sorts), where I keep all these miscellaneous items and photos, so I can dig thru them every now and then. This way, they DO have a special place.
Loved reading that story. Here is something I blogged about and how I have used items from grandparents in my scrap space. I love that I can use them rather than have them stored away in a cabinet.
http://angelgurl.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/shabby-chic-2/
and again here
http://angelgurl.wordpress.com/2007/07/15/connections-and-schmoozing/
My sister in law died suddenly last Sept. My brother and her lived in FL. and loved the beach. They had sent us and our kids a big bag full of shells. I had kept them in the bag and not done anything with them. When she passed away, I went through the shells and put a picture of her and my brother and surrounded the picture with shells from the ones they sent us. I did not keep the rest, but I have some.
I have a quilt that my great-great-grandmother pieced together from old apron and dress scraps, my great-grandmother hand-quilted, and then my aunt passed on to me before she died (young). I have it hung beside my bed on a shelf/drawer unit. I frequently whine to myself that my bedroom is the darkest part of my light-filled home, but the low light makes it perfect to hang this family heirloom.
I absolutely love that idea!
oh Aby… love that your husband did that for you~ total keeper 😉
so… you’ve inspired me to do my own blog posts on heirlooms, travel treasures and the like. I just finished perusing my home taking photos… I knew I had some displayed but was pleasantly surprised to find so many.
thank you for the inspiration~
My mom did a neat rug with the swatched of a bowling shirt of a deceased friend . Cllick on the link. http://organizedeveryday.blogspot.com/2008/07/good-remembrance-is-not-clutter.html
i love this idea!
my way or memorializing would be through my photography. each time a grandparent passed away, I saved a rose from their memorial arrangement. I started this because a dear uncle of mine handed one to me after one service as a way to make me smile. I saved the roses and photographed them alive, and a few months later, dried. Each one of the photographs has been rendered in photoshop and printed for display in my home. it’s really amazing to see the character in each flower and how it resembles the person it represents.
thanks for sharing.
I have a shelf in my mudroom that has lots of old jars that belonged to my grandmother before she passed away. We have started to place things that have meaning to us inside them over the last year and now have marbles that my brother and I use to play with in one, beer bottle caps in another, shells from our vacations in another, buttons that were my grandma’s in another. Above the shelf we have written “Treasures of the heart”.