A "million" years ago, my grandmother began collecting buttons of all shapes and sizes. I imagine she put buttons in there that had fallen off a dress or shirt or coat. Or, perhaps, they were the extra buttons in the package... Regardless of how they got there, they were there.My mother inherited the buttons after my grandmother died. I remember being fascinated by the huge jar of buttons and somehow it made me feel more connected to my granmother.
Nothing ever happened with those buttons. No one ever searched through that jar to replace a missing button somewhere else. It was just "The Button Jar." We liked it that way.
A few years ago, I asked my mother if I could have some of the buttons from the jar. Thankfully, she said "yes." My plan was to create an art piece that I could hang on the wall. That art piece hasn't happened yet, but I LOVE having these buttons.
There's something very comforting about owning a piece of the past. Now, it not only connects me with my grandmother. It keeps me connected to my mother. That makes me feel good.
What do you have that keeps you connected to part of your past? What part of your past gives you comfort?
1 comment:
Probably for 35 years now, my mama has kept buttons in a bright green lidded plastic cylinder that was the packaging for L'Eggs panty hose (3-pack). She only has functional buttons now, because over the years I've picked out the good ones, to add to my collection. I've bought buttons in Missouri (a quart of them--mostly white--at a yard sale), Kansas (cool Bakelite and celluloid ones), Virginia (singles of "designer" buttons) and Germany (antique glass ones). I have some that belonged to my grandmothers and great aunts, as well. When Callie gets married (05/29/10) we're going to sew onto her dress the buttons from down the back of the now-rotten dress that Mama and I wore in our weddings. In the fourth grade, we would play "Button, button, who's got the button?" in Ms. Jennie Jones class. That and "Eraser Tag", at which the African-American students had a totally unfair advantage.
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