BECKY’S BOOK

And last but not least, you kept all those old Christmas things . . . I want to see them. Ida Dickson Patchen to her sister Ina, 1922

My niece Becky responded to my memory of the “Busy Book” my mother (her grandmother) made. [See previous post.] “Grandma made one for me, and I still have it.” she commented, and it made my day! I only remember Mother making one “Busy Book,” but there might have been others. If there was only one, it was “Becky’s Busy Book.” (It has a certain ring to it, don't you think?)

Then Becky sent the two photos you see here. “I still have mine – a little worse for wear,” she texted. “I had forgotten about it until I saw your post. I had also made one for a babysitting bag in 4-H. I still have the bag with all the things I made. Crazy the things we hang on to.” So true!

Obviously, I didn't remember for whom my mother made the busy book, and I expected that it had been tossed years ago. But the above quote from a letter written by my Great Aunt Ida affirms that something in us likes to see the old things. Maybe it's because without tangible proof, memories seem to fade into dreamland. It’s special to me that Becky still has her “Busy Book.” Sometimes these humble things mean more than all the china in the cupboard. KW