That title may be just a tad misleading but the past week I may have been stuck a little bit in the whole memory vortex. Chris was gone for the week and I had a lot of alone time so I might have been wallowing a bit. I allowed myself that and it was good because today I am feeling so much better about everything. Sometimes I just need to take some time for me and it was a good way to get some of those sad feelings acknowledged and worked out. So my readers definitely don’t need to worry. I am fine. Just doing what I need to do to take care of myself.
This past weekend 2 years ago was the last visit I was able to make to go visit my mom until the visit right before her death. Covid shut things down soon after that visit and it was phone calls, video calls and postcards and cards after that. Facebook is good to remind me of events and when that popped up I thought it was no wonder she had been on my mind so much this past week. Now it made sense.
One of the things I finally did was put together shadow memory boxes (now you understand the title) for both of my parents. I had collected a few things that I wanted to save and this seemed like a great way to preserve them and keep them on display without being morbid about it.
My Daddy’s box has a few of my favorite pictures of him, some Boy Scout items, his birth certificate, a harmonica, a ribbon from some conference event, a choral program which he sang in, his announcement for his graduation from seminary and a sweet invitation he wrote to my mom. Oh and Lifesavers. He loved those and we always got him some of the those little books of Lifesavers for Christmas. Do you remember those?
My mom’s box has a couple of yellow roses from her Celebration of Life that my sister in law dried for me, a couple of favorite pictures of her, a picture of a church she drew for a Christmas card, her nameplate from her room at Copeland Oaks, a bunny, a card from my Daddy, a cathedral window piece she made and a little article where she was quoted about how to wear perfume. A nice mix of items, don’t you think?
I placed these in my office upstairs and am so happy to be able to have a special place to display them. It seems like it helps me to see things like this and it kind of honors my parents as well.
I feel like my past week has been mainly posts about memories and grief and that is not normal but hey- I guess it is just what is on my mind this week. Thanks for indulging me. The good news is there is a beach trip ahead and I will soon be basking in the sun in my favorite place.
Tell me – have you ever created a shadow box to preserve something special? I would love to hear about it. Don’t forget to Comment for a Cause — for Power Up.
7 Comments
Leave a commentThese are wonderful. Such a beautiful way to remember them.
The shadow boxes are wonderful! I have never made one (yet) but we do have six of my dad’s paintings/drawings on the walls.
I haven´t made memory boxes but it is a great idea. Yours are perfect! I did make a scrap book for dad.
Oh, Beth Ann, these memory boxes are wonderful. A summary of your parents. Who they were to you. To each other. To the broader community. I like the added touches of the Lifesaver, the nameplate (I have my mom’s maiden name sign from her office job; it’s on my office desk)… These bit and pieces are so important to preserve. Write about grief whenever you feel like doing so. I’ve certainly done a lot of that in recent weeks. It helps.
Wonderful way to display your beautiful memories of your parents. Chuck & made one for his brother that was killed in Germany the early 60’s.
Those memory boxes are a sweet way to preserve your keepsakes and provide special memories of your parents at the same time. We have two memory boxes in our home office. One showcases my husband’s medals from his Army days and the other is a wooden puzzle that hubby’s dad had as a child in the early 1900’s (he was born in 1898).
I think I last heard them mentioned in 1972. One of the kid crafts Mother or Grandmother did with us kids…”Japanese lanterns,” too, iirc. Very little of that stuff survived more than a year.