Memories Are Made of This

After a recent visit to my hometown of Shelby, NC, I was feeling a bit melancholy and overwhelmed by the thought of my Mom's house possibly being "dismantled" one of these days.  During that trip, I attended the funeral of one of my high school classmates.  I had heard about the auctioning off of the items from his childhood home.  I also spent some time with my cousin as she was packing up her parents' home and all of its contents.  We shared some laughs and some tears as we went through boxes of old photographs of our Dads, but that can be another blog one day!  All of these things reminded me of our own mortality, which led me think about Mom's home and her "stuff."  I was fretting over not having the proper space in my home for all the things that evoke memories and sentiment from my Mom's house.  I don't want to ever forget.

I was sharing all these frustrated thoughts with my friend Sally.  She is a fantastic blogger and I look forward to her blogs each time she posts a new one.  She suggested to me that I photograph some of the things in my Mom's house and write a blog about the stories behind them.  That way I would always have something tangible to help jog my memories of Mom, Dad, Martha, family, life in Shelby and all those wonderful times in my life.
I now think Sally is not only a great friend and fantastic blogger, but also a genius for thinking of this venture!

Time restraints made me hesitate about starting this blog, but I quickly got over that as I reminded myself just how precious time is and how our days are numbered.  This is just one more thing I will do with my time and I will do so lovingly and with excitement!  Recording these stories will be such a great reminder of how time has been spent in my life and the lives of those who have gone before me.

Two days after my discussion of a blog with Sally, Mom left to run some errands. The house was empty and quiet so I got out my Kodak EasyShare camera and began my journey through her home!  As I snapped the shots I was instantly flooded with so many memories.  I also realized that I had forgotten many details which made me think of numerous questions.  I will have to ask Mom to help answer some of those questions.   Hopefully she will remember.....between the two of us, we should come up with some good "stories!"

Although I did not grow up in the house Mom has lived in for the past 31 years,  I did grow up with so many of the knick-knacks, artwork, books, furniture, old photographs, handmade items, etc. that she has in this house. 
After all, isn't that what makes a house and home and isn't that what memories are made of?


Back of Mom's house