The ‘hope’ chest
At the end of last week and still dolefully resigned to being isolated at home due to the COVID-19, contagious corona virus, my thoughts were taking me in another direction and away from writing. After talking with the editor, and reminding him that the local papers had published 30 columns, I decided to take a break and stop writing for a while.
After all, when thoughts are in your head and you’re creative it’s wonderful, and when you aren’t descriptive and poetic, you just aren’t!
My mantra has always been to be uplifting, positive, entertaining and hopefully have you, the reader, enjoy the column, maybe want more, and to put a smile on your face as you finish reading! Unfortunately, my creativity had been drained and alas there was nothing left!!
However, last night walking into my room and glancing at the old chest that has followed me through my entire life, I wondered what treasures could possibly be hiding within, that had not seen the light of day for a multitude of years…maybe 50!
Originally, it was an old rusty chest that my folks had pulled out of an old barn in Louisiana and subsequently refurbished for my “HOPE” chest. I remember mom telling me that a “HOPE” chest means you start collecting things when you are young and HOPE that someday a prince charming comes along and you get to use the collected things in the hope chest!!
Well, that Prince Charming came and went but that forgotten old chest was still hanging out with me. I pulled up a chair and slowly opened her up, like expecting a mouse to jump out or something… and wow, there were amazing things right at my fingertips! So amazing that two columns immediately surfaced and the creativity woke me up at 4 a.m.! So, here we are again.
Now first we need to figure out if mom was incredibly foresighted enough to collect things…or they just interested her…or maybe someday they would be worth something…or just a plain ole “packrat”! Actually, it was probably a combination of all of the above!
As I began to dig through the remnants of life, my trousseau seemed to have disappeared but had somehow been replaced with various other items. I uncovered the old batons and medals won from competition.
What a fun box from which to start…metals and competition sheets telling what was good and what was awful in a twirling routine. It brought back a few really ancient memories as I must have been a pretty good “kid” twirler…first place, nine years old and under…military strutting, fancy strutting, and solo twirl. Then apparently the competition got harder as we all graduated to 10 years old and over and reconciled to obviously 3rd places…with the exception of strutting…always good! As I chuckle now. Wonder if baton twirling is something that stays with you like bike riding? Might just have to take them out and try.
Digging deeper into “HOPE” uncovered a box of political “gear”, bumper stickers, buttons and complete newspapers that collectors would no doubt love to get into their hands!
What a collection unmasked that had been permanently buried and forgotten. Stopping here, you might be interested to learn that when I initially began to write as a freelancer for the paper, the editor suggested to me “the sky was the limit on my column, just nothing POLITICAL”.
That was fine with me as politics is somewhat enjoyable but truly didn’t want to have to write about it!
Surely, he was talking about NOW politics and not ANTIQUE politics! This antique collection was indeed buried…and as the box was emptied an abundance of great collectibles surfaced…buttons from “I like IKE”; Tippecanoe and Tiger, Too!; Kennedy; New Leadership Kennedy/Johnson; Goldwater/Miller; LBJ for the USA; Wallace/LeMay; Clinton/Gore; Nixon Now; Reagan Bush ’84; Bush/Quayle 92; … and “Democrats for Reagan Bush”. This really was a nice giant handful of memorable political buttons and bumper stickers, plus mind working and brain sorting trying to figure out the logical order of candidates from the 40s up.
Dad reminded me the first vote he ever cast in his life was for IKE, after he got out of the Navy. And, I reminded him that the first political thing in my life was working as a Young Republican for the “old” George Bush prior to his running for President, and found the T-shirt to prove it in the box! (I thought Goodwill had gotten that long ago and was sad it was gone)
It’s amusing how life begins, …builds with each passing year and shapes you into adulthood with different objects playing a part along the way, especially those that you forgot existed!
Great parents and strong family teachings contribute an enormous role into making you the person you become…and if you are lucky enough to have a “hope” chest, it captures and encapsulates the start and wondrous hopes and dreams toward an incredible future with that mystical Prince Charming that will HOPE-fully grace your life one day!