Antique Gold

Monday, September 30: Share a photo of something old. Maybe something that has personal history for you, that was passed down to you, and that has special meaning to you. Tell us about it and why it's special.

Funny... as I look around my house, the only "old" things I really have are photos, and even then, they're only 31 years, at the most (whoa, that's kind of old, now that I think about it). The only thing in my house that is antique  - I know the prompt doesn't specifically say antique, but it's where my mind went - is a bottle of acrylic paint in my art supplies, labeled Antique Gold.

I don't have any heirlooms or antiques. I don't have my great-grandmother's china set or a brooch from the Great Depression. So, I'll deviate from the post a little bit to expand. :)

Thing is, when my parents moved to Texas from Michigan in 1971, they didn't bring anything. They left their possessions behind to follow God' call, much like Jesus' disciples did in the Gospels. They just loaded up in a VW bug, and moved states away, into unknown territory, with nothing but God's guidance, and each other. (And their Guinea Pig, Sebastian.) 

Then, they stayed in West Texas, and had five kids.

Growing up, we lived in furnished rectories (with a priest for most of my childhood, then to an unoccupied rectory when I was 9). We did accumulate furniture of our own, which was certainly needed as our family expanded (I don't think Monsignor James ever expected to share his house with a family of seven), but it was all handed down from people, or found at garage sales or thrift shops. I remember the first new piece of furniture that I remember being brought in to our house. It was a khaki and blue striped loveseat when I was in high school. It sits in my folks' living room today.

Make no mistake, I'm not complaining about any of it. I think it is beyond rad that my parents lived like true disciples, who were basically a group of hippies who loved and followed Jesus without being drugged or promiscuous. I think that it is a real testament of God's favor to look at the way they lived, and where we lived, and how we lived. We never lacked or wanted. We always had our fill.

But it was never with possessions.

**We did have plenty of those, though. We had video game systems and clothes and shoes and legos and video equipment and magic sets and Monopoly and such. We just didn't have much in excess. Though my dad would probably disagree - - - he would have been content to have nothing but books and records, a bed, a toilet, and a tub. He wrote a song about the latter three once. And my sister's and my room would get terrrrrrrribly messy, which means we probably had more clothing than we needed.**

All this said, because of my parents' vow of living a life of "Gospel simplicity," I don't hold on to things. I don't get very sentimentally attached to anything. Every time I've moved (14 since I graduated high school), I've gotten rid of at least a truckload (or 3) of stuff. We have nothing in storage, lots of empty drawers and closets, and only a few Rubbermaid tubs in the attic, which store Christmas decorations and clothing that I've kept for my kids as they grow.

And my life is not overrun with stuff. Though I do have a buuuunch of "stuff" still - art supplies and books, some stuff from childhood that I hung on to, crap that I've accumulated and don't know what it is or where to put it... though I still have more crap than a person needs (and more than I want, but just need to hunker down and sort through) I don't even care about stuff. At all.

(Lie alert - I do care about the kids' things, and about clothes and shoes. Just sayin.)

I do have quite a bit of sentimental memories from my kids - mostly art they've made, cards, report cards, the outfits they wore home from the hospital, their baptismal gowns... but that's pretty much it. I could (GOD FORBID) lose my house tomorrow, and, though it would royally suck to have to start over, the only thing I'd really miss is my box of photos and the memory boxes (which hold all those things I just listed) that I've started for my kids.

I'm sure if I really looked I could find something old. In fact, I do have the dresser we had when I was just a baby. It's in my daughter's room. It was cream and gold, shiny particle board with some broken drawers, could have been fixed and cute but I ruined it a while back by spray-painting it black. See? Not attached to things. Told ya.

Just for good measure, I'll leave you with this. Anyone guess what it is? It's old. And I inherited it from the lady who moved out of the house in which we currently reside. Well? :)




Peace!
J