When I was little, my grandma and I would perform what I now like to call a ritual, called "cut and paste." We would cut up construction paper and glue it in different ways to make bookmarks and other little pieces of juvenile art. With the passing of Valentine's Day, I specifically remembered how we would cut different colored hearts in a distinct way so that each side was even and symmetrical. We would then glue the hearts onto different colored rectangles made of construction paper to make little bookmarks. I also had this porcelain teaset that she made me that included little tea cups with blue flowers, and a tea kettle shaped like a cat with a fish being held at its chest for a spout. We would sit at my little craft table and she would make us real tea to put in the cat kettle and we'd have a tea party. Usually, this included homemade sugar cookies with pink homemade buttercream frosting. I never liked Valentine's Day when I got older, and this memo...
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presence
I've been having some strange dreams and most of the time my strange dreams are just strange nightmares about nothing that seems to mean much of anything, but these felt different. Last night, I dreamt that I was at my grandma's house. I have dreams that take place at her house fairly often but in most of them, I can't find her. There's a feeling that I just missed her and she never comes into view. But this one was different as she was actually there and I could see and hear her voice. We were getting ready to go somewhere with my grandpa and there was a strange dog outside, it was starving, its hair was falling out, and its skin was red. Somehow, it had gotten into the backyard and was waiting at the door to be let into her "Florida room" as we called it. But of course, all the pekes were out there and that wasn't going to happen. A very strange person showed up all of a sudden and seemed very ominous and threatening. I can't remember if he...
things lost and found
When I was little, I would explore all the nooks and crannies in the spare bedroom at my grandma's house in Winchester. The chest of drawers was full of treasures--rose-scented lotions, candles, shiny makeup compacts, old business cards, sachets of potpourri, all fascinating to a little girl. There was one trinket in particular that caught my eye and I begged my grandma to let me keep it: an old skeleton key. My grandma's house wasn't old enough to have locks that would need such a key and I assume it likely came from the house my dad grew up in, making the key that much more mysterious. I wore the key around my neck on a chain for years, throughout high school. When my grandma passed away in the summer of 2008, the necklace became a talisman. I used it to carry her love and light with me and I rarely took it off. One night, I came home from spending time with friends and the chain broke, the necklace finding its way to the floor. I h...