Thursday, July 31, 2014

Whose things belong in the Family Museum?

 
Boxes in the attic. Boxes in the basement. Boxes in the garage, in the shed, and under the bed. Boxes with hastily scribbled writing on it that says “baby clothes.” Another says, “Grandmas’ bric-a-brac.” The boxes from the attic may be filled with old toys, games and comic books. You know what is in the boxes stored in garage – tools! Grandpas’ greasy coffee cans filled with nuts and bolts, gizmos you haven’t the slightest idea to what they are, but apparently they were important enough to be kept. The boxes from the basement smell moldy and you are not sure if you even want to open them. But you do and much to your delight, you find your high school yearbooks. You sit down on the steps and slowly turn the stiff pages and gaze down at the faces you knew and wonder where they are now.

So whose things belong in the family museum? Everyone’s things!

Look at it this way. If you do not display at least a few things from each member of the family in the museum, you may end up with a family feud. Sometimes this situation can be touchy especially if the family has gone through a critical time; separation, divorce, death, or a weather or fire catastrophe that wiped out many of your precious heirlooms. We all at some time in our lives experience unfortunate events. However, if a picture or anything that makes you relieve past hurt or insurmountable sadness, then don’t put it in. Instead of making that decision yourself, consult the family. After all, it is their museum, too.

So put in some of grandmas’ prize possessions, hang up the baby shoes, display the comic book and yearbooks, keep the cans of nuts & bolts and label it “grandpas’ toys.” Everyone’s things belong in the family museum – a living tapestry of your family’s history. 

 
“A morsel of genuine history, a thing so rare as to be always valuable.”                                                        Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States

Note: Tell me what favorite things do you want to put in your Family Museum?

Next Post: One Generation of Time

 

 

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