Heirlooms
Heirloom quilts, wedding veils, and Grandma’s tablecloths
are but future feeding grounds for silverfish and moths.
Since we cannot control the changes that the future brings,
we should not be flummoxed by the loss of treasured things.
Their value is more visceral than literal, it’s true,
so time can rarely mitigate their presence within you.
North and south and east and west—wherever we are cast—
within our minds and hearts, we bear the treasures of our past.
I cannot help mourning the loss of this quilt handmade by my grandmother over 100 years ago which seems to have vanished from the assisted living facility where my sister lived for the last ten years of her life, so I guess this poem was mainly written to comfort myself.
Prompts today are tablecloth, visceral, flummox, mitigate and north.
Things don’t last the test of time. Their memory however will live in our hearts.
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In a nutshell
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👍🏼🙏🏼
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I understand the feelings. That is said that such a precious item disappeared. My aunt had the quilt my mom made for her until the day she passed. It was in the boxed up belongings after the quarantine was up. We were happy to get it back.
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So glad you have it still.
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I was thrilled when I found it in her belongings.
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I have let go of so many family things because I am the end of the road. My cousin’s daughter will be getting a lot of things — and their stories — but only things she wants. I have more to let go of, but I don’t have to do that all at once. That quilt pattern must have been very popular — most of the old quilts displayed at our local quilt show are that — Grandmother’s Garden, I think it’s called.
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She made a sunbonnet girl quilt as well but I have no idea what happened to it.
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I’m sorry to hear that, Judy!
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Thanks, Becky, but good to learn to let go.
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Probably so…
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I hear ya, Judy! Such a loss but letting go is all one can do.
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I’ve also had to ponder the disappearance of some of my mother’s things as she moved to assisted living, then memory care. I suspect she gave them away (sort of), but it bothered me a bit. Now I don’t fret – I certainly didn’t need those things.
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