It's not the object, but the person attached to it, that sometimes makes us cling to an item that others may see no value in. Such is the tall cocktail glass that I lovingly washed this morning.
The glass was a wedding gift from my Aunt Arlene. It's going on 37 years old now. It's the last of a set of four. Some of the detail is missing from its bottom edge. But I love it and hold it to my heart like none other.
We've moved some over the years. I still have boxes of odds and ends such as this that I find when I'm looking for some other needed but not often used item. Over the last few years I've come across Aunt Arlene's glass a number of times. It being only one, it often remained in its bubble wrap and got returned safely to the box, until I could figure out what to do with it. But part with it I could not.
A couple of months ago Aunt Arlene's glass was the last item in a box that I emptied, and so, it did not get returned to the box, but instead got placed on a shelf (still in the bubble wrap) until I could decide what to do with it. It sat on the shelf for these couple months until yesterday, as I cleaned, and decided that sitting on the shelf in bubble wrap is not how this glass should be.
Perhaps I should use it. Warm memories of Aunt Arlene played through my mind each time I touched it, and I thought, that would be nice to experience a few more times in this Now.
Aunt Arlene was a delicate little lady, petite and of the short stature that is my father's side of the family and which I also am. Aunt Arlene lived in Virginia and so only came to visit once every couple of years throughout my childhood. Each time she came she brought me gifts. Each time she came she taught me a craft, as she loved to do. Christmas balls made from cutting out and pinning together on a Styrofoam ball small pieces of velvet, odd bits of old jewelry found at second hand shops, and completed with ribbon to hang from the tree. Lovely they were. Special the time we spent together.
Aunt Arlene is the only one from whom I would accept to be spoken of by the nickname of "Pammy". Aunt Arlene said "Pammy" with a gentle smile and a soft voice that felt like a warm embrace.
As my acceptance of recognizing Spirit around me has grown, I have felt and heard Aunt Arlene's presence, especially this past winter when I was in the winter doldrums. She was there, encouraging me to be strong, buoying up my sense of self, embracing me with her gentle "Pammy"; letting me know that those in Spirit were with me and loved me.
So this morning I washed Aunt Arlene's wedding gift to me - a lone, tall cocktail glass with the impish three monkeys on it. Below each monkey could still be read what they say:
I always wondered why Arlene gave me cocktail glasses with these silly little monkeys on them. I always thought it just a 'little' odd for a wedding gift.
But today, the life lesson that only this lovely lady could impart (and often did) with such a gentle morality came clear.
And today I determined 'what to do' with this lone, single wedding gift cocktail glass. It will be given a place of honor on one of my special shelves with my other treasures - so that each time I pass it - I will remember my wonderful Aunt Arlene and the message behind her wedding gift to me.
The glass was a wedding gift from my Aunt Arlene. It's going on 37 years old now. It's the last of a set of four. Some of the detail is missing from its bottom edge. But I love it and hold it to my heart like none other.
We've moved some over the years. I still have boxes of odds and ends such as this that I find when I'm looking for some other needed but not often used item. Over the last few years I've come across Aunt Arlene's glass a number of times. It being only one, it often remained in its bubble wrap and got returned safely to the box, until I could figure out what to do with it. But part with it I could not.
A couple of months ago Aunt Arlene's glass was the last item in a box that I emptied, and so, it did not get returned to the box, but instead got placed on a shelf (still in the bubble wrap) until I could decide what to do with it. It sat on the shelf for these couple months until yesterday, as I cleaned, and decided that sitting on the shelf in bubble wrap is not how this glass should be.
Perhaps I should use it. Warm memories of Aunt Arlene played through my mind each time I touched it, and I thought, that would be nice to experience a few more times in this Now.
Aunt Arlene was a delicate little lady, petite and of the short stature that is my father's side of the family and which I also am. Aunt Arlene lived in Virginia and so only came to visit once every couple of years throughout my childhood. Each time she came she brought me gifts. Each time she came she taught me a craft, as she loved to do. Christmas balls made from cutting out and pinning together on a Styrofoam ball small pieces of velvet, odd bits of old jewelry found at second hand shops, and completed with ribbon to hang from the tree. Lovely they were. Special the time we spent together.
Aunt Arlene is the only one from whom I would accept to be spoken of by the nickname of "Pammy". Aunt Arlene said "Pammy" with a gentle smile and a soft voice that felt like a warm embrace.
As my acceptance of recognizing Spirit around me has grown, I have felt and heard Aunt Arlene's presence, especially this past winter when I was in the winter doldrums. She was there, encouraging me to be strong, buoying up my sense of self, embracing me with her gentle "Pammy"; letting me know that those in Spirit were with me and loved me.
So this morning I washed Aunt Arlene's wedding gift to me - a lone, tall cocktail glass with the impish three monkeys on it. Below each monkey could still be read what they say:
Hear no evil.
See no evil.
Speak no evil.And it struck me.
I always wondered why Arlene gave me cocktail glasses with these silly little monkeys on them. I always thought it just a 'little' odd for a wedding gift.
But today, the life lesson that only this lovely lady could impart (and often did) with such a gentle morality came clear.
And today I determined 'what to do' with this lone, single wedding gift cocktail glass. It will be given a place of honor on one of my special shelves with my other treasures - so that each time I pass it - I will remember my wonderful Aunt Arlene and the message behind her wedding gift to me.
Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil.And my darling Aunt, I sincerely hope I can, each day live and move with the Grace that you have given me.
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