I think that it is always fun to share the stories behind something you’ve had for a long time, or that has exsisted for so long that jist now fell onto your radar-
I’ve been dealing with the loss of two family members these last two or so years it’s been a blur, really- and right now I have the deadline of one week to clear out the house of a 97 year old poet- which is why I’m just so busy and tired right now…
But in the process, after seeing that my uncle-in-law stole 25000$+ worth of pottery, books, and other things that were not his to take, I found something that made my heart melt on the spot.
I found a bear that my wife’s grandmother made.
Now, I never got to meet Virginia, she passed when my wife was 3 years old, but I have fragments of her heart in the things she had made over the years.
This is the bear… and the bear my wife has held onto for her whole life:
The bear on the left is Stokley. He is wearing a cardigan made from a sweater that belonged to my wife’s grandfather, one of her late father’s hats, and a vest she wore when she was the same size as the bear.
On the right, however, is a bear that surprised the three of us (my mother-in-law, my wife, and myself) as we did not know of her existence until two days ago.
I found her in a closet that was barricaded behind a stack of books and dvds- and all I could do was hug her and cry. My grandmother-in-law seems to have made me a bear all my own- a thing that was impossible but not unheard of for Virginia.
With my mother-in-law’s help, the bear is now named Angela.
It is so strange to hold something that was made more than 35 years ago that is also wholly new.
I found her after discovering the home of my late grandfather-in-law was ransacked and things of immeasurable value stolen. Things that belonged to my wife’s father, things that belonged to the medical school- it was entirely upsetting…
But finding Angela just made me break down crying with happiness. A hug from a woman I never met but know so well through the things she made and the things she left behind.
Last night I cried for a different but similar reason; my wife found the keys to her father’s vehicle. Keys we though were lost for good. They are keys to his coffin. But also a little piece of salvation- as now we don’t have to worry about buying a new key to move the car. I felt like I cried for half and hour over this, but I don’t think it was actually so long a time-
I’m going to be busy making sure that the pieces of my wifes grandparents and father make it out of that house safely.
I only have until the 27th.
Never forget that the things that you create are just as much a part of you as your heart or blood.
The things you make can, and will, be how people hold on to you for the rest of time.
Being able to touch those things, having a tactile sense to their exsistence- that is what makes it clear that you exsited.
Never stop creating.
Your ability to create is the one thing that can’t be taken from you.
Art is the soul in physical form.
Keep creating.
Always.
