I like to think that I got it figured out. I made a lot of mistakes in my lifetime but have been blessed with the ability to fess up to the mistakes and reboot. I don't have life anymore figured out than the next guy, but I have learned what life is not about. Life is not about ownership, although it is nice to own a nice home and have things that make your life comfortable it is not the end all.
I have learned the things that I keep close to me now are memories. Each smell of a new baby that has joined my family brings me comfort on the days I feel like life has just put too much on me. The memories of 30 Christmas mornings waking up to a houseful of excited people. The dinners, the breakfast, the noise of my life those are the things that I hang on to.
I have owned my share of things, in my twenties I equated my success with those things, but I was never satisfied by them. There have been keepsakes that I hang on to, that I pull from the attic on cold days that I have nothing else to do and than I send them back into hiding in their special spaces among the cobwebs and planks.
I don't know where I go from this point in life. I am a young grandmother, that just sent my last child to college. I often wonder where the years have gone and if my days will ever be my own again and than I think I do not want my days to be my own. I love the days that are filled with grand children running in and out of that banging screen door attached to my side porch that makes me nuts every time it slams.
I don't have it figured out but I do know that the Hokey Pokey breaks up the mundane tasks of everyday nicely! Here are some great keep sake ideas.
A keep sake box is a great way to store all those little memories that will someday really matter. I like cigar boxes but you can use any box with a lid.
Of course baby books are grand but what I did because we were military is make video records of everything special for my children it was easier too keep up with. Now each one of my married girls were able to use the videos at their weddings baby showers etc.
When my kids first entered school I kept literally every picture they brought home when you have multi kids it can be a real hassle so what I did was take a piece of art work from every year or elementary school and make a collage and had it professionally framed. I did it 6 times over and they really came out pretty cool and it is another thing that is easier to do than throwing stuff in boxes. Each child has a record of their artistic ability as a child in a frame that they can choose to hang.
There was something gross to me about keeping a jar of baby teeth so I didn't. I opted instead to incorporate a tooth from each child into part of the decoration on a vase that sits on my mantel. I was industrious at one time and crafty and bought one of those leafing kits. I dipped each little tooth in gold and used them in a vase I created when I was throwing clay at the time. It is pretty cool and is not as creepy to me as a jar full of teeth.
There are a lot of ways you can hang on to memories that are unique and less disposable than stuff chucked into boxes. Hang on to your memories that is the thing that life is all about.
I like these too keep memories in: Pearhead Keepsake Box - Pink (Google Affiliate Ad)
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