A Gift

A week or so ago I received a gift.  A precious one in fact.  A gift that I will treasure always.  One that wasn't expected.  One that someone handed me in passing.  No packing, no frilly box or paper, just a gift.  I absolutely love it!  I can't wait to try it out or attempt to anyway, but even if it never works, I will proudly display it on a shelf and just treasure it. 

You see as I get older, I honestly care less and less about shiny, expensive gifts.  They are certainly nice, but they aren't something that I care about.  What I do care about are heartfelt gifts.  An old treasure or photograph, something that reminds you of someone you once loved.  I love those gifts.  They make me cry tears of joy, they make my heart skip, they make my mind flood with wonderful memories.  I love those gifts. 

Several months ago, I had a terrible few days when I started thinking of my stepfather, Rich.  I'm not sure what triggered it or what it was about.  I have always thought wonderful thoughts of him and I think at the time of his passing I never really dealt with it.  It happened, I cried, I cried a lot and I went back to school and got on with life.  I never really allowed myself the time to mourn.  So, that is my own diagnosis of what occured this summer. 

During that same time I had a visit with my grandparents and I talked to them about my troubles, my sadness.  I just talked for a few minutes and we went back to talking about the kids and all that they were doing.  Well, at Christmas time this year my grandmother gave me such a precious gift.  I started crying so much that I couldn't even speak.  She gave me about 10 photographs of Rich and our family at Christmas time.  You see my grandparents had a tradition that we did every year, along with Cheese Soup.  Every year before gifts we took pictures in front of the fireplace or in front of the tree.  She had years of pictures.  I loved it.  I will love it always.

So back to my gift I received most recently.  Rich's sister, Kathy, and my mother are still dear friends and visit often.  They were headed out to lunch and she was to meet her at my mother's house.  We were headed out, but it just so happened that she arrived before we left.  As she walked up to the door she reached her hands out and handed me something.  A wonderful gift, one that I remembered as if I had seen it yesterday.  She handed me Rich's yellow Minolta underwater camera with the strap and the arm band that he used.  Oh, what a gift!  Honestly, I'm surprised that I didn't cry.  I was actually too excited to cry.  I remembered that camera.  I even smelled it.  Weird right?  Now whether he used it here or not, I cannot remember, but it smelled like the old lake house we used to spend summers or long weekends.  Oh my gosh, a flood of memories, fabulous, wonderful memories.  I wasn't sad.  I'm not sad.  It made me happy to remember (I have a terrible memory).  I was happy to see something of his.  Something that he used.  Something that he enjoyed.  It is now mine.  Mine to cherish.  That is exactly what I will do.

If I can work it out, I even intend to use his old strap as my new strap on my camera.  He was creative and artistic and well maybe, just maybe some of his creative mojo will rub off on me. 

Before we headed out I got to spend a few minutes showing Jack the camera and explaining that it could be used to take pictures under water (super cool).  That was fun for me.  Fun to share.

Thank you Kathy for sharing this with me.  I will enjoy it.....always.

Amy

PS - if ever you find an OLD camera (this one isn't really old, just sentimental) at an estate sale or garage sale I will gladly reimburse anyone if they buy it.  You will know if it is old.  They look old.  You know what old looks like right?  Well, you can't pay $100 bucks for it, but most people are just throwing them out and almost giving them away.  I have a few already.  One is my great grandmothers (love it) and 2 are ones that I picked up from estate sales.  I wish I had them with me and I would take a picture and show you my very small collection.