I am such a sentimental person. Heirlooms make me happy - like old friends with decades, even centuries of stories to be told behind their worn appearance. Take for instance the corner shelf found in the corner of my front room. It's covered mostly with dust, but also a few other pictures and tchotchkes that I've collected. Someday this may belong to a granddaughter or grandson, he or she will put their own little items on it, and maybe imagine what I placed on it once upon a time. Originally it belonged to my great-great grandmother. I have no idea what she placed on it, but I imagine her youthful hands carefully arranging things in just the right place, at just the right angle, just as I have done. What treasures did she have? Just to imagine her makes me feel closer to my own history.
In this photo, BP is wearing a very special heirloom belonging originally to my Great-Grandfather's family - his christening gown. To imagine a grandparent or great-grandparent that small is so difficult and fascinating. To imagine a great-grandparent who I have only heard stories of, wearing that gown is even more thrilling. What dreams of him his mother must have had as she watched her baby boy be christened! And who took the time to make this beautiful gown for him - did she? What joy and love must have captured her heart as she dressed him that day.
By now, a few generations of mothers have lived to watch their children be baptized, and grow, dreaming dreams for them. Some of these mothers, my grandmothers, have since passed on, though the gown remains. Generations of mothers have beamed with pride and love as they've dressed their child or children in such beautiful handiwork. I am now in that line of mothers.
