one by one,
with each trip
to minnesota,
they started to appear.
new to me.
new to maddy,
but obviously
only new to
the two of us.
first it was
the bucket of crayons.
then the silk pillow
and matching silk blanket.
then the baton
with the water
and green glitter inside.
this trip?
a plastic doll house
and all the
accessories that
belonged inside.
no one
had to say anything.
i knew they
belonged to
liz
when she was child.
i could tell
the age of each
item simply by
noticing the wear,
but the more
obvious signal
that they belonged
to her was in the
looks her parents
had on their faces
as maddy enjoyed
playing with them.
they were happy.
because these things...
they're not being
treated as museum relics,
banished to some
storage box never
to be seen again.
they're in maddy's hands,
taking the abuse
of another 2.5
year old.
just as they would
have if
liz
were alive.
so as maddy's crayons
wander off of the paper
and on to the table,
or as maddy's pillow gets
covered in drool,
or maddy's baton is used
as a golf club,
or as maddy's dollhouse
accessories get thrown
from one end of
the room to
the other,
the three of us
can watch,
smiling together,
happy to see
her so happy.
This post was very touching and made me cry. I think all of us want to see the things that belonged to our love one used, loved and cared for by someone who could value not only the item, but who it came from. Your daughter is young yet, but she will treasure those things when she is older even more than now. My daughters who are teenagers, both pick things of their dad's to keep. When I realized it was time to give away some of my husband's things, I slowly began to think of family, friends and organizations he loved to give them to. It made it easier to part with things that had meant so much to him, but I would no longer use. I could do this, because he had always "felt bad" for things that sat unused and unloved, so by doing this I felt I was doing something that would have made him happy and me to feel less burdened and overwhelmed by all of the stuff he had collected. Of course there are many special things I have kept for myself, my daughters and their future children.
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