Discovered

  I'm big on homemade. I believe that stems from my childhood where a good deal of what we had was homemade. We built what we wanted, fixed what we had or went without. It wasn't anything special, we didn't give any of that much thought, isn't that what everyone else was doing? Well, except for the rich folks that is, and I wasn't friends with any rich folks. Getting brand new, store bought items was a treat when it came to the "fun" things. The fun things are those things you don't actually need, you just want them, for fun. I would collect bottles and get some change, sometimes buying candy or chips with that and at others saving them up for something larger. I'm not saying I didn't get store bought things like toys and clothes, I sure did. But I got far more practical things than I did trivial. 

 I do have a good number of things that are homemade, collected over the years. My mother did all those mom things, knitting, crochet, needlepoint, sewing and the like. Later in life she took up painting and I have a few of those. I have some of those items from my aunts as well. My wife has made tons of crocheted items over the years. Some of those items hold special memories and others are just relics. Every one holds some measure of importance to me personally. To others I realize it is just old stuff somebody made. Remnants of the past. As with all of my stuff I do think about what will happen to it after my time. It does bother me to think it would just be thrown away or donated to Good Will without any "provenance" accompanying them. 

  The "provenance" is what makes something valuable after the original creator/owner disposes of that object. You have to be someone of note for that provenance to add that value, either that, or the object itself has to hold historical significance in some fashion. The objects, possessions and creations of the ordinary folks holds no value beyond sentiment. Without sentiment those things become the sediment of a life. The stuff that sank to the bottom, usually considered worthless and in some instances not desirable at all. What I have are sentimental objects in jeopardy of becoming that sediment. I feel an obligation to somehow save then from that fate. I want to keep their stories alive. The only way that will happen is by association. Fact is, I'm not a person of note. No fame, no extreme wealth, I'm not even notorious. No one that ever had any of those things fall into that category. My ancestors, as near as I can tell, were always just the common everyday folks in society. No provenance. 

  I tell myself everything has a time. All the trappings of everyday life will one day disappear, be replaced or discarded. We build museums to hold our greatest treasures. Works of art, objects from the long ago and all manner of sentimental things. The best of the best! And all of that is subjective. There are works of art hanging in galleries around the world that I wouldn't give you a dollar for but they have been declared as masterpieces! The opposite is true as well. I recently read where a comic book sold at auction for 9.2 million dollars! It was Superman number 1. Is it worth it? It is to whoever bought it but not to me. But then I don't have 9.2 million dollars to play around with. Good for whoever does I'm not jealous or envious. 

  I remember going to my grandparents house. It was filled with all kinds of old stuff. Funny old things that Nana had or Gramp used at some time in the long ago past. There were coal scuttles, goose wings sweeps to clean out the stove, and gramp even had a genuine buffalo robe blanket. Their houses were a bit mysterious to me as I wasn't allowed to just roam freely throughout the house. I didn't go upstairs alone, only when they decided to give me a quick tour to satisfy my curiosity. Bedrooms with old beds and old pictures on the walls. I little creepy to a small child, the silence of those rooms. I wasn't aware of that at the time but those homes were a sort of museum of their lives. I look around my own home today and I'm starting to get those museum vibes. The old, but very familiar things to me, mostly overlooked, things are just there. Memories sitting on shelves, hidden in the corners, or hanging on the walls.

 Will any of these things be curated? To be curated it takes a professional, an expert in those things. Only those things of value get curated, everything else is relegated to trash. One mans treasure is another mans trash, is an old adage that describes what I'm thinking about. It's all treasure to me. The value lies in memories, connections to the past, to what was. I do have a few objects worthy of curating, I believe.  Great Grandfathers mantle clock, sold by Tiffany and Co. , Great Great Grandfathers civil war belt buckle and a few other things like that. By far, the majority will just wind up as trash, memories discarded. Makes me sad to think about that. 

 I've written all this several times before and most likely I will again. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have this card, home made by my mom. It was the last card she ever sent me. I rediscovered it a while back in my box of treasures and decided to frame that. I looked up at it this morning, noticing it once again. Memories of her flooded my mind and memories of Thanksgivings at home. Home is that sentimental place we all retreat to when we feel a little sad or down. The past is a comfort for the moment. That card now hangs next to a handkerchief embroidered by my great grandmother for my father while he served in WW2. It has the symbol of his unit on it. Those are treasures. Those are the things I think about. How long will they survive? As long as the memory lives. I think that memories aren't created, they are discovered. Usually it is accidental. Everything else is curated.