Pretty handkerchief from Vanity Flair Vintage
As I
sit here coughing and sneezing with what has become the annual New Year cold
there was a knock at the door. The UPS
man stood there with a package in hand. I was a bit surprised as I had not ordered anything. Looking at the address label I found it was
from my sister-in-law, Ann. Thinking it
was a very late Christmas gift I opened it.
Inside I found an envelope with a note and a couple of “things to treasure
from a time gone by”. We had lost my mother-in-law before Christmas and Ann was
breaking up the house. In it were
four embossed and embroidered handkerchiefs.
They were perfectly ironed and folded. Her request was to share them with the four
little girl grandchildren as a bit of great grandma. Perfume wafted up from the envelope as I held
them. I got to thinking about what she
wrote. With the tissue boxes and take Kleenex
packages
that my grandchildren knew as a part of their life those handkerchiefs probably
would seem pretty strange to them. The
other part of those hankies that would be foreign to them would be the time Mama
had spent ironing them. Mama loved to iron and took it very
seriously. She ironed everything from
sheets and pillowcases to underwear for her family of seven kids and husband. It was serious business and I
can remember my bewilderment when I learned she even ironed Papa’s underwear
which my mom did not do. Things have
sure changed since then and I don’t know that either of my daughter-in –laws has
an iron. Guess maybe we will have to
have a little lesson on ironing for the little girls later. The perfume tried to fill my nostrils. Ladies never left their house without
perfume. I remember my first bottle of cologne
and later at graduation a bottle of special perfume. Definitely another time
and a different normal for me. Memories are
filling my mind and I will have to share them with the girls. Maybe I need to give them each a new hankie
of their very own as well.
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