The Best Gifts I Ever Gave

In the 30+ years I spent as a parent I rarely carried a picture of any of my children which I think was a curiosity to many people. Somewhere in the early years of my second child (Plug to you guys) I gave up on keeping "baby books." Although I had baby books for the other two about all I could muster was sticking some cards, pictures, etc. inside them and maybe filling out the parents' and grandparents' names. There were three years between my first two children, Chillax and Plug; then a gap of seven years until Goo came along and another three until Dagromm appeared. Two years later came the divorce. That's the quick summary.

What I did do early on was to keep a file for each one of them. Into those went report cards, especially interesting or funny school papers, programs from different events, cards they made me, not so great reports from school, special cards from godparents,etc., and I also have hundreds of pictures from the past. Somewhere through the years I began to develop this image of their finding these treasures in my files after my death. Then my sentimental side met my practical side because I needed to purge my filing cabinet, change my desk to fit my space, and I realized I wanted to witness to some degree their encounter with their pasts. So when I found the memory boxes at Bombay I knew that was what I wanted. (Besides, right after Christmas 2006 they had a really good deal on the boxes.) My gifts for my children at Christmas, 2007, were ready.

The boxes also came with little bronze plates that I had engraved with their initials and mounted on the top. Too classy! Then in the spring there appeared a Noel Coward piece in my Bible study curriculum that said everything I wanted to say with the gifts, so I typed it up and put it on the inside of the lid. Here it is:

From Collected Verse

Nothing Is Lost

Deep in our sub-concious, we are told
Lie all our memories, lie all the notes
Of all the music we have ever heard
And all the phrases those we loved have spoken,
Sorrows and losses time has since consoled,
Family jokes, out-moded anecdotes
Each sentimental souvenir and token
Everything seen, experienced, each word
Addressed to us in infancy, before
Before we could even know or understand
The implications of our wonderland.
There they all are, the legendary lies
The birthday treats, the sights, the sounds, the tears
Forgotten debris of forgotten years
Waiting to be recalled, waiting to rise
Before our world dissolves before our eyes
Waiting for some small, intimate reminder,
A word, a tune, a known familiar scent
An echo from the past when, innocent
We looked upon the present with delight
And doubted not the future would be kinder
And never knew the loneliness of night.

Noel Coward

I talked with Goo on Christmas morning by cell phone as we were many, many miles apart as she opened hers. I had Christmas lunch and gifts with Chillax , Oyster, and Jaz. Later I heard from Dagromm and Plug. The memory boxes were probably a bigger delight to the grandchildren than the parents, my children, but I hope not. We shared so many great times---great good times and great bad times. They were definitely all great! And those were the best gifts I'll ever have to give.

Chillax and Oyster check out his memory box.