Catching up

I've started sorting the contents of the boxes that have been in storage since July 2014 when my husband and I left Massachusetts for Arizona. There are at least 30 of them. Thirty boxes of journals, books, art supplies, framed artwork and more!

Today I opened my fourth box. Inside I found some treasures.

There was a necklace I had made with clay faces in shades of blue bought here, in Vermont, years ago, even though I was not a blue girl. I'm wearing it now with my navy tank top and shades of blue flannel. A prescient purchase?

There were many, many, many paint brushes. Some were not stored well and/or just got used up to their potential. I actually threw those away. I saved some great old favorites though: Grumbacher , Utrecht, Crayola:-) Some for me, some for the little ones I hope will visit us some day.

And in another box, in the box, there were some stones from the beach in Giardini Naxos, Sicily. Most of them were former clay tiles, dumped into the sea by contractors, tossed in the waves and returned to the beach polished smooth. Remnants of artists' designs still singing from them. Our bags, my friend Beverly's and mine, were heavy that summer. We used the tiles to try our hands at mosaic making. Me, I mortared them into the recessed top of a table from the Salvation Army store and lined a wooden serving tray for a friend.


Today I placed a few of the tiny tile stones in the flower boxes Russ and I built that hang on the porch. The rest of the stones I threw over the railing to join others from the brook and the local gravel pit that make a path to the back door.

Mixing memories and moments. Integrating. Catching up. Something we all might need to do every once in a while. For me, I feel like I'm finding myself. Where I've come from. Where I am now. Perhaps there will be some clues about where I am going. Have you saved memories and moments in things assembled that remind you where you have been? Do they give you clues about where you are now and who you have been and are becoming? I hope that if you need a little bit of catching up, you have some time, too.