Mementos and memories.... taking a break dealing with life and death from the virus

Pete

Pete

Member
Location
Texas
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Memories.. my parents and my daughters wedding picture, and mementos..
including a piece of a building from Hiroshima, and tools of the printing trade.
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….it seems like many months have passed since the news everyday was focused on impeaching the President whereas everyday now we hear about how many people are dying and sick from the virus and for me it is reminiscent of when Americans were held hostage in Iran and we sent in a foiled attempt to rescue them, and every night on the news there would be a 'days of captivity count'.... no matter my feeling is the same I need a break from the heavy lifting of carrying around the possibility of going to the grocery store and catching a deadly virus.

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A coffee cup from my wife reminding me I am not perfect,
and a trophy and a copy of an award winning DVD about Alaska
and a truly prized possession the hammer I used for the 14 years
I was building on the Northern Alaska homestead.
​
So it may be because I had a birthday recently but I have lately been looking more and more back to things I have done and places I have been. This is probably triggered by my son returning to me (for my birthday) two dog tags, mine and my fathers that I gave to him for safe keeping years ago. I had always thought I would attach them to the lanyard around my neck that holds my nitroglycerin pills, but when I was about to do that I had this feeling of fear that for some reason I might loose them.

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This got me to thinking exactly what are mementos and why do we place such a high personal value on them.Scattered around my apartment I have a number of shelves dedicated to 'things' that most would ignore but to me are cherished by the very nature of how they came into my life. Now no doubt in 74 years of living I have touched or used many things but still there are a few that rise to this high level of importance in my life...why?

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A ceramic sculpture, (monkey considering its origins), my wife made for me,
an Alaskan bowel from my daughter
and a plaque my son made commemorating my 14 years living in the wilderness

That is actually a question that has no one answer,
but as I ponder an answer
I gaze up at the wall behind my computer
and once again
forget about the life and death struggle
that surrounds us all
and allow my mind to find
a safe harbor to weather out the storm.

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Photo's of my family and I plus some awards
centering around an American flag
my father displayed before his passing.​
 

Nice post, Pete. Thank you.

Our home is also filled with momentos. Some from our own past, but many more from our parents, grandparents, great grandparents . . .

It's sort of bitter sweet knowing that our kids have little interest in these and that most will just go away when we're gone. Still, at that point we won't really care will we?
 
Tommy said:
Nice post, Pete. Thank you.

Our home is also filled with mementos. Some from our own past, but many more from our parents, grandparents, great grandparents . . .

It's sort of bitter sweet knowing that our kids have little interest in these and that most will just go away when we're gone. Still, at that point we won't really care will we?
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Oh Tommy you may be surprised like I was when I read a comment on this posting on my WordPress blog ( https://kl1hbalaska.wordpress.com/ ) by my daughter, it appears she too has walls full of memories.
 
Wow, what a nice collection of momentos, Pete. Thanks for sharing them.

Recently I heard that the best man at my wedding to my first husband had died. I hadn't seen Paul in many years but it still made me sad and brought back a flood of memories. I decided to dig out the old wedding pictures and once I got into the "picture cabinet" I spent a few hours transported back in time.

I found an album of photos taken when the children were small and we lived in Baton Rouge LA. I didn't remember those pictures so it was such a pleasant surprise. I loved traveling down memory lane and I know someday my children will love those pictures, too.
 
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