The Blonde in the house starts to muse about the future every so often. Sometimes I worry that it might be about something that might demand either funds or perhaps manual labor. Other times, she has a concern about what will happen to all the great, beautiful items that she would not part with except under gun point. All of the items under her consideration have memories. How do you get rid of memories, and if you are gone and those left do not have the memories, then what?
For example she loves Hummel figurines, but the young folks today couldn’t give a tinker’s darn about Hummel – assuming that they know what they are. Then there are the dishes that her mother left her. They were made in Czechoslovakia prior to World War II. However, they are not a modern design, and the worst part is that you can’t put them in the dishwasher. Well, you can but eventually the pattern and the gold ring would disappear. Who today wants dishes that you can’t put in the dishwasher? Those poor Czechs back in the pre WWII days had to do them by hand. Can you imagine!
Then there is our first purchase – the bedroom furniture when I got out of the army. (OK actually it was our second purchase. We bought a hide-a-bed first, but we don’t have it anymore). The bedroom furniture is constructed of much better wood than you normally get in furniture today. However, it is not of a modern design so who among the younger generation will want a bedroom furniture of that appearance. With us though it has a long history including the fact that I was able to bring the furniture store down $25 bucks for the set – which was a tidy sum back in those days.
Then, there is the grandfather clock I purchased for The Blonde about 40 years ago. Bought it at a jewelry store, and the owner told me that he had never seen anybody so excited in his life as The Blonde was when they delivered the clock. I suppose that someone might at least take a look at a grandfather clock today. However, if they did purchase it would they keep it wound and otherwise maintained as has been the case in our house? Obviously, you can’t just take a grandfather clock, plunk it down on the floor someplace and then ignore it. This is particularly the case with ours as it has received a great deal of love.
The Blonde has done a tremendous amount of genealogy work. Her maiden name was Burke who claim to have come from Ireland. She has all sorts of paperwork on her proud ancestors. Will that paperwork be saved and used for future generations to peruse? Finally, I hesitate to even mention the orchids and other flowers and plants on our lanai that blossom under The Blonde’s green thumb. Will they be considered exotic weeds in the future and finally assigned to the landfill? Such thoughts are enough to drive anyone to distraction.
When The Blonde gets to musing her concerns about the above, I just tell her, “If nobody will take proper care of our stuff, then we just won’t go.” That ought to do it!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
