Today, I was making the big effort that I have been dreading but excited to start.... de-cluttering !!!!My goad is to at least make a small start this summer in taking a few closets and rooms and getting rid of things I do not need anymore. Happy to report that I have already done my closet and half of the upper garage!! Yea ME!!!!As I walked downstairs to get something, the under the stairs closet haunted me.... I hate to open that door because I have so much "STUFF" piled in there. Well, today, I thought, it is early, before I talk myself out of it, I will start in on this closet. I pulled most of the boxes out and put out in the den on the pool table so I can lay it all out. Then.... I start going through the boxes, one at a time.... One of the boxes that I pulled out last and opened up just to see what was in it, was full of lace and a few things of Mothers that I had brought to my house a few years ago. It didn`t surprise me to find it there because I have her things all over the house. Some in the closet designated to her things in my guest room but when that got full, I just put boxes wherever I could find a nitch to stick them. I know, I know, not very smart or organized but that is just me. I spend more time looking for things than doing what I wanted to do with them in the first place!Anyway, this sack of treasures, as I call all of her things that I have, was full of lace and some aprons she had made. It even had one of her special pin cushions that she made with her lace. She loved lace. She had boxes of it in her basement. I have boxes of it upstairs in "her" closet, but this was just a random sack of lace and a few things she had made. Most of the lace she collected was old. She would look in boutiques and antique stores wherever she went. If she saw a pretty piece of lace or a pretty doilies, she would ultimately get it and add to her collection. There was a time when she made custom pillows and the tops of them would have this beautiful lace on them. Then she made pin cushions for several years. They were her specialty. If she had an order for her lace pillows, she would use the left over lace and make them a pin cushion, just because.... So when I came across her blue pin cushion this morning, I immediately pulled it close to me to smell, hoping it had her still on it.... Ever so faintly, I could almost imagine her perfume, still etched into the little pillow, that she so carefully and lovingly had made. Lots of hand work, tacking it all down by hand them stitching it together and whipping it closed. I have had many of them in the past that she gave me, but this one is so special today... to find. Just as her lace was so special to her to find and use, it has left a legacy of her to those who are fortunate enough to have one and will forever be a reminder of her and her loving spirit that she always shared with all who knew her.Once again, I am thankful for memories of the past, that come just when you need to be reminded of how special family and friends are to your life. Still missing her, and always will, but thankful to be able to find pieces of her, when I open up her treasures in unexpected places.
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