A History Lesson
I spent some time with my Mom over the weekend, clearing the remnants of my belongings from the house. Sadly, my place barely has room for what I took when I moved out five years ago. You see, I'm a Certified Pack Rat. I have kept virtually everything I ever owned. Let me point out that I come by this honestly, since Mom is bad that way too.

So, Mom purposefully committed herself to donating articles for two Spring Sales. This would force her to be brutal when inspecting the piles of boxes in the basement and behind the stairs. My Gran moved into a home last year, so try to imagine the efforts of three generations of pack rats in one basement. Scary.

As I was picking through the mound, every once in a while shouting, "Hey, look at this!", or "Awwww, I remember when....", I came upon a framed, embroidered picture.

"Who does this belong to?", I asked Mom.

"That picture hung in your Grandma and Grandpa's house for most of your life, young lady," came the embarrasing response.

Oops.

Well, I wanted it. I also wanted the history behind it. Maybe Gran did needlework when she was young. Maybe someone from Romania made it as a gift before G&G left. Maybe I should see when the Antiques Roadshow is coming to town.

Mom claimed ignorance about the picture's origins. I asked her if, the next night when she spoke to Gran, she would see if she remembered anything about it. A series of small strokes has left her with little short term memory, and sparse long term.

It was at that point Mom kind of looked away. She mumbled something, and I asked her to repeat herself. She looked right at me and said, "One of Grandpa's old girlfriends made that for him before he was married."

I'll never look at that picture the same way again.

That old adage just popped up in my mind: Be careful what you ask for, you may just get it."

Posted at 8:33 a.m.