How Memories Are Made

Look around your home.  Much of what you have held on to has a story.  Through this tapestry photos, knicknacks, art, furniture and clothing, are a lifetime of memories.  When you clean out a closet or prepare to move, you will know what I mean.  I recently showed a friend all of our artwork, and told him a story with every piece.  I have a ceramic fish from Picasso's ceramic studio in the south of France.  I bought it for $8 when I was visiting France with my first husband in 1969.  I have a paper plate designed by Roy Lichtenstein that Ron bought for me on one of our first dates.  Every time I pass by it hanging on the wall in the living room, I smile.  We had just recently met, and we went to an art show at Long Beach State, where we saw the paper plate.  It began our lifetime love of contemporary art, and was the first piece in our collection.

I have always been a lover of glass paperweights, and during our extensive travels in the 1980's and 1990's, I bought a paperweight everywhere we went.  I love looking at them and remembering our travels.  On a 1999 trip to Benin and Togo, I collected African masks, which now hang over our bed.  That trip, which I took without Ron, was a highlight of my travels, and seeing those masks every day brings back wonderful memories.

Occasionally I will open the china cabinet and straighten things out, and will look at silver flatware, which belonged to my grandmother.  It's well over 100 years old.  I have a  piece of Czech glass given to us by a dear friend who has passed away, a carved wooden eagle given to us by Ron's friend Bernie, and a beautiful horse sculpture which I bough in Paris on a trip with one of my travel agent friends.  I also have a watch from Roots, which I bought in Vancouver, on a trip to watch one of our horses run.  I have an outfit that no longer fits me, but whichI keep to remind me of our fantastic trip to Tokyo in 2000 with our whole family, and our jockey Jose Valdivia and his wife Renee.  I just can't part with it.

One of my prize possessions is a small group of letters written to me by my father when I was about 10 years old, and away at sleep away camp.  The letters are charming, and each one is signed and end with a cute little drawing.

On my trip to Cuba in 2000, I bought several pieces of folk art, which always make me smile, remembering the good times had on that trip.  I only wish I had bought more art.>P>

Of course pictures, which we all have so many of today, are great reminders of the good and bad times in life, and I love looking at them, but things, they tell such stories.  Look around your own house and see what I mean.