Clearing out the old ladies apartment was of course a sad event. She’d spent so many years in the flat that it seemed that part of her spirit must have stayed when she passed on.
In the living-room, with its old furniture, still in mint condition, there was a wall to wall many tiered knick-knack shelf. All the souvenirs from her rare trips to Venice or Rome were mixed up with the objects her children and grandchildren had brought her from places like the Seychelles or Los Angeles. Her grandson had just recently given her a toy Mummery & Fudger truck from London. It was in the place of honor on the shelf.
gift shop memories
on a wooden knick-knack shelf
an old woman’s life
© G.s.k. ‘14
Bastet and Sekhmet's Library 
poignant story!! beautiful haibun!
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Thanks .. glad you liked it.
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This is both sad and beautiful – memories of a life well lived.
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Thanks Suzanne …
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Yes, sometimes lives boil down to a couple of knick knacks and photos —
that mean everything to one, and mean nothing to anyone else.
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Yes … very often … each one of us is a little bit of history though, maybe waiting to be discovered.
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Yes, indeed. 🙂
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So many memories in what another person sees as frills and “junque”. 🙂
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Yes … so true … if they only knew 🙂
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The biggest “treasure” from my great-grandparents’ house is a tiny blue-gray panther from a Noah’s Ark set — plucked from the dust bin by a little girl broken-hearted to see her (then) favorite animal in the trash.
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An my son still has an old musical toy he went to bed with … hidden away. I won’t go into the little mementos of child art and little gifts that I have in my studio.
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This reminds me of those things of my MIL’s which I still need to go through.
Even after a year I find it difficult to believe her absence is real…
And yet she is as you say ‘still with us’ in our hearts.
Since I am so technically challenged I just sent a photo I took of Ben Franklin to Al and he used it for the current Haibun Thinking 🙂
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Always heart-wrenching to go through memories of a loved one. We have to think both the tangibles and intangibles made a wonderful life.
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So true … the image of nick-knack shelves brings back to my mind all the little triumphs and memories of a person … like photographs … there’s a story, but often we don’t know what that story really is about.
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