WHERE'S SNOOPY?

I have a great fear that I will throw away something important. It’s happened once or twice, which fuels my fear.

Mother's necklace, my bracelet

Years ago, as she was moving from the family home, Mother gave me a necklace of Italian beads that she had purchased at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. I had a matching bracelet. The memory of those purchases was special as was the necklace, and that Mother would let me have it was also special.

Well, weeks and months went by, and one day I remembered the necklace but I didn't know what had become of it. I feared that I had thrown it away, and I confessed this to sister Joni. I expected her to lecture me for my carelessness, as a big sister might, but she didn’t.

“No you didn’t, Kathy,” she said softly. “You didn’t throw it away. Someday you will open something and there it will be.” And she was right! One day in cleaning a shelf, I removed the lid from a teapot, and there was that necklace. I had put it in the teapot for safekeeping and forgotten all about it.  

Fast forward 35 years to today's dilemma. Perhaps you remember that back in the 1990s those little boxes of Whitman chocolates came with a Snoopy ornament attached at Christmastime. Hallie had quite a collection of them, and last month at the farm, I came upon them. “Wouldn’t you like to have these for Silas,” I asked.

“Oh, I guess so,” she said. Was that a tone of reluctance in her voice? Was I pushing these things on her? I love my vintage stuff left over from mother and grandmothers, but on the other hand, why store a lot of stuff? It should be used and enjoyed. And if things are hidden away and their use forbidden, they lose their meaning and no one cares.

So, I brought those “Snoopies” to town and meant to take them to Hallie last month, but I forgot all about them. I even forgot that I forgot! And when I remembered that I forgot, I was mortified! I had no memory of what I had done with them – no memory at all beyond finding them and wanting Hallie to share them with her little boy. Once again, I concluded that I must have thrown them away.

And then, Joni (who passed away Sept. 19) came gently to thought and said softly, “No you didn’t, Kathy. You didn’t throw them away. Some day you will find them.”

So, I took heart and tried a little harder. It took several trips to my little storage shed, but I finally opened a tote I’d been bypassing, thinking it held an unfinished project. And there were those “Snoopies” and other things I thought Hallie should see. Fortunately, I haven’t lost the window of opportunity for this Christmas. She’ll be here next week to attend Joni’s memorial service.

Finding those “Snoopies” made my day! KW