Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to celebrate Women's History Month
March 6 - Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor.
I have a few items that are special to me that I have inherited from my grandmother's. My two most treasured items are from my mother's mother, Mary Ellen Hayes Roe.
The first most treasured item are her pearls. My grandmother was very ill, battling cancer, when I went to my high school senior and junior proms. James and I had been together a few months when we went to our Junior Prom. That year I wore a peach colored satin dress with bare shoulders. My grandmother saw that and knew that I needed to wear her pearls with it. She lent them to me, and when I went to return them after the prom, she told me to keep them. She said "honey your momma bought me those ear rings and I've had that necklace for years. I want you to have them." Little did any of us know how sick she was at that time. She was gone just over a year later. She was still with us when we went to our Senior prom, but I didn't wear the necklace that year. It was more important to have the right jewelry with the right dress back then. If I had known that she would have left us a month later I would have found another dress to go with those pearls. I did however wear her pearls a few days after we lost her to my high school graduation and also to her funeral. I still have them safely locked away in a box. The clasp broke some years back on me and I need to get it fixed.
The next treasure of her are a set of pigs. After James and I married that following November we went to visit my step grandfather, Paul. As we were getting ready to leave that day he told me to hold on, he had something that he thought my grandmother would have wanted me to have. He brought me a set of ceramic pigs. They are a dark pink. They are a creamer and sugar set. The head comes off the sugar one and the cream pours out of the mouth of the other one. Even my family knows that if you drop my pigs you die (well not really, but they will hear about it).
Last is a treasure that has seen it's better days. This one is from my dad's mother. When I got married my father handed me a small 10 Commandments plate that use to hang on their walls. He told me that it was his mother's and to take good care of it. I promised I would and carefully packed it in newspaper before putting it into a box that fit just right and then placing it into a bigger box. We got all my things to my new home the day before we married. I went home that night and didn't return to our apartment until we were married. I was old fashioned. We never lived together. I stayed with my parents until the day we married. A new bride of one day and my heart was broken by my dear husband. He was trying to be helpful when he was unpacking my boxes and not knowing what was in the little white box, he dropped it on the floor. I heard it and screamed. I knew it couldn't have survived. We opened it to see all the little pieces and I was in tears. It stayed in that box and I never threw it away. It's still in the box today. My dear husband though, knowing how much it meant to me, set one day and pains stakingly glued the whole thing back together. There is one tiny missing piece, but it's together. Maybe someday I will find a way to smooth out the cracks, but either way I will always keep it. My dad's mother was the religious one who always had her bible and really believed and lived by it. That's why the 10 Commandments plate reminds me of her so much.
Last year I wrote this post. Since then I've inherited a very treasured family heriloom. It's an old antique desk that once belonged to my great great Aunt Perky and Uncle Herb. It's a beautiful desk, and I will always treasure it. In the photo of the women is my mother on the right, next to her is Aunt Perky (Delia) and beside her is my grandmother Mary Ellen (Hayes) Roe. Grandma inherited the desk from Aunt Perky after Uncle Herb died, then Aunt Mary (pictured on the left) got the desk and then she gave it to Mom.
I have a few items that are special to me that I have inherited from my grandmother's. My two most treasured items are from my mother's mother, Mary Ellen Hayes Roe.
The first most treasured item are her pearls. My grandmother was very ill, battling cancer, when I went to my high school senior and junior proms. James and I had been together a few months when we went to our Junior Prom. That year I wore a peach colored satin dress with bare shoulders. My grandmother saw that and knew that I needed to wear her pearls with it. She lent them to me, and when I went to return them after the prom, she told me to keep them. She said "honey your momma bought me those ear rings and I've had that necklace for years. I want you to have them." Little did any of us know how sick she was at that time. She was gone just over a year later. She was still with us when we went to our Senior prom, but I didn't wear the necklace that year. It was more important to have the right jewelry with the right dress back then. If I had known that she would have left us a month later I would have found another dress to go with those pearls. I did however wear her pearls a few days after we lost her to my high school graduation and also to her funeral. I still have them safely locked away in a box. The clasp broke some years back on me and I need to get it fixed.
The next treasure of her are a set of pigs. After James and I married that following November we went to visit my step grandfather, Paul. As we were getting ready to leave that day he told me to hold on, he had something that he thought my grandmother would have wanted me to have. He brought me a set of ceramic pigs. They are a dark pink. They are a creamer and sugar set. The head comes off the sugar one and the cream pours out of the mouth of the other one. Even my family knows that if you drop my pigs you die (well not really, but they will hear about it).
Last is a treasure that has seen it's better days. This one is from my dad's mother. When I got married my father handed me a small 10 Commandments plate that use to hang on their walls. He told me that it was his mother's and to take good care of it. I promised I would and carefully packed it in newspaper before putting it into a box that fit just right and then placing it into a bigger box. We got all my things to my new home the day before we married. I went home that night and didn't return to our apartment until we were married. I was old fashioned. We never lived together. I stayed with my parents until the day we married. A new bride of one day and my heart was broken by my dear husband. He was trying to be helpful when he was unpacking my boxes and not knowing what was in the little white box, he dropped it on the floor. I heard it and screamed. I knew it couldn't have survived. We opened it to see all the little pieces and I was in tears. It stayed in that box and I never threw it away. It's still in the box today. My dear husband though, knowing how much it meant to me, set one day and pains stakingly glued the whole thing back together. There is one tiny missing piece, but it's together. Maybe someday I will find a way to smooth out the cracks, but either way I will always keep it. My dad's mother was the religious one who always had her bible and really believed and lived by it. That's why the 10 Commandments plate reminds me of her so much.
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