Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Mom and pop's house in Florida has sold, and while packing up all the stuff I plan on keeping, I've noticed how often I stop while holding a book or a stuffed animal. It seems each piece has memories attached, some good others not so good, but they all take me back to the place and time that all of them came to be a part of my life.

I remember when pop use to bring out a stuffed white bear he kept just to put under the Christmas tree. It had a light in it's chest in the shape of a heart that would light up when you squeezed him. Pop just loved that bear, and would get the biggest kick out of showing it to me at least once a day till Christmas was over. When Christmas was over, he'd carefully put the bear back in it's box and stow it away until the next year.
Pop is gone now, but the bear brings him back each time I see it, so I think I'll keep it out all year long.

There's a set of dishes in the china cabinet, that mom used only for when company came. They were her "Best Dishes", and heaven help anyone who even came close to dropping one! I use to have to set the table, and if the "Best Dishes" had to be used, my heart would be in my throat the whole time. I think I still break out in hives when the words "company are coming for dinner" are spoken.
Mom's gone too, and the dishes are being packed very carefully.

The house is the hardest thing to leave behind. So many good things happened here. I still hear the laughter, still smell the wonderful aroma of moms cooking coming from the cheerfully lit kitchen. I can feel them so close to me. So, while I make room for one more cookie jar, or oh so gently wrap and place the last "Best Dish" in a box, I know that no matter how far away I go, that everything I take, along with the great loving memories of mom and pop, will always and forever have a place in my heart.