Gifts of Remembrance

I'm the kind of girl who leaves little things around the house to purposefully remind myself of the people I love.  I purposefully leave small tokens in dishes and on shelves, in boxes and in books.  Like the little beaded elephant in my vanity drawer that my sister brought back for me from India.  Or my dad's Bible sitting beside my desk.  My other sister sent me owl earrings once when I was feeling blue.  I lost one of them, but I keep the other one in my jewelry box.  When I see it I think of her.  I keep a blue rock beside my bed that Analiese gave me.  I have a chain link on my key ring that I got from a small group leader in high school that reminds me that I'm linked to God.  I have a note from my mom in Psalms, a note from a friend in Matthews, and a picture that Chris drew when he was very little can be found in Genesis.  Fragments of Sicily are all over the house in the small treasures that she brings me on a weekly basis.  And I never remove old pictures of my kids when I put new ones in the frames.  That way I watch them grow each time I add a current picture.  

I am a collector of remembrance.