Possessions

My grandmother died in 1982. I remember the tears really hitting when I went over to her apartment to help my parents and my aunt and uncle empty it out. All her things, so lovingly cared for were being dispersed. Some of it went into the hands of loved ones. I remember a cousin asking for the wooden bowl and blade my grandma used to make chopped liver. The cousin had no intentions of using this, but she remembered the taste when grandma made it and wanted the items so she would never forget. My sister greedily claimed a lot of her antique furniture, never even thinking that others might have wanted a piece of something too. Unfortunately, she lost it all when her house burnt down. I took my grandmother's torch lamp, a few living room tables and her bedroom set. My daughter still uses the antique dressing table. Too many other things just went into the trash.

The worst part of all this for me was the emptying of her freezer. Grandma used to go to the Kosher butcher and then separate her meat parcels into little tin foil packages for individual servings. She didn't have much money, didn't like to take money from her children, so she budgeted her food to make it last. The only thing I could think of was how she planned on living, how she never thought her life would end. Her meat was packaged to last for weeks to come.

Last week my dad and I looked at some of my mom's old costume jewelry. look at I imagined her buying the piece, wearing it and then putting it away for some future use that probably never came. So many of the pieces were items my dad had bought for her over the years. He never imagined they would not touch her skin again. She never thought they would be laying in a box, buried, forgotten for a long, long time.

I took this pin from the collection. My dad said they bought it together when they went to visit the Amish Country many years ago. I don't think I ever saw her wear it. I reminded me so much of them. Two old people, holding hands, walking off into the sunset together. Happy together.