Anyone who's ever had a conversation with me probably knws my penchant for telling stories. Ask me a question, and I will probably have a story to go with it.
Take the items in my house. Just about every one has a story behind it and warm memories of the people in my life. And this is very true when it comes to photographs and artwork.
When we could save very few items from our house when we lost it in 2013, I'm glad we saved photographs and artwork, even though I have happily acquired a few more pieces over these past few years.
On Saturday, Jasmine and Rebekah spent some time sorting, separating, and even hanging some of said photos and artwork.
Here is what they accomplished so far (Jasmine is coming back on Saturday to hang some more) and the stories behind each piece.
Before the era of smart cameras, framed photos were often given as gifts or placed on flat surfaces to keep loved ones close.
Jasmine arranged some of those photos on top of the bookshelves. If you ever visit me, I can tell you the story behind each one.
One tradition in our home that we missed during the nine months we lived with my parents and during the years we lived at The Birches in Joliet was our icon wall/prayer corner.
The reason we never created one there is because we only had one long, deep closet for storage. To go through pictures, icons, and photo books was an arduous process of removing everything from the closet into the living room and putting it all back.
We also have A LOT of icons (and they all have a story). I won't tell them all here.
But Jasmine did ask if I had any that I especially wanted hung. I wanted the most unusual ones on the wall, and then she could pick from there.
This is what she created.
And then she arranged our "family icon tree." Each icon represents a patron or favorite saint of Ron, me, and all nine children (biological and step).
In Channahon, I displayed them over the archway between the living room and the dining room.
Jasmine arranged them here.
Now for the lake art.
When Rebekah, Daniel, and I had moved into the larger townhome in 2019 at The Birches, I had a long wall - so I put a nice lake painting on my wish list.
I wound up with three.
The one below, an Old Calendar Christmas present on January 7, 2020, was too heavy to hang on the wall, so it hung out on my grandmother's dresser (another story). In fact, that wall above it was the "wish wall," and it stayed blank the entire time I had the room.
But that same painting now looks terrific on the wall between my bedroom and Rebekah's bedroom:
The second, also from Timothy and also an Old Calendar Christmas present on January 7, 2020, hungh above my closet door in the former bedroom.
It now hangs between the doors of my new walk-in closet and my bathroom.
The last painting was also an Old Calendar Christmas gift and also from Timothy, but for January 7, 2021, in a final attempt to find a lighter piece to hang on that wall (the wall had brick behind it, so it was difficult to hang a picture).
However, work grew busy for all of us. That painting stood between my grandmother's dresser and my closet until the day I moved.
And, yes, I had to move the painting every time I opened the closet door. The original Bertrand the Mouse is seen guarding it.
It now looks very nice over my pretend fireplace. The dresser to the right belonged to Ron's mother, who died the year before I met her. That dresser is one of my most treasured pieces.
See the pillow at the foot of the bed? That's for Faith, my calico, who wouldn't stay off my pillows. So now she has one of her own.
The fake fireplace was a gift from Timothy when Rebekah, Daniel, and I moved into that larger townhome in 2019.
I wanted a fireplace. They did not.
So Timothy bought one for my bedroom.
The leprechaun doll was made for me by a dollmaker I'd interviewed (I ordered and paid for one after the story ran in The Herald-News). This doll has a story all its own for another time.
The blue poncho was a gift from a beautiful lady (now in heaven). That has a special story behind it, too.
Even the gray sweatpants were a gift - from Rebekah.
Oh, and the cat print blanket? Jasmine and Rebekah made it for me - but Faith claimed it.
Onward to my bathroom art.
This first piece was a print I won at a Halloween event at the former middle school in Channahon (now Pioneer Path School).
A local dentist turned magician for special events put on a spectacular production in the school gym. Ron insisted we all attend, because he wanted us to see how special Halloween was in Channahon. We had only lived there two weeks.
And then I got a nap and got up to deliver newspapers.
I bought this "cancer the crab art" from Spencer's Gifts either in high school or college. I framed it early in my marriage (1981 most likely), and I've hung it in the bathroom ever since.
And here is the art on context with each other and with the waterscape shower curtain (with seahorse and shell hooks), which Sarah sent me for my birthday.
On the opposite wall are the four waterscapes Jasmine painted for my birthday.
All the scented soap on the right (stacked on the middle shelf) were all gifts. I'm slowly using them.
Finally, Timothy bought this beautiful photograph of the Twelve Apostles that Robert Hafey shot when he was in Australia.
Bob's art show at the Book and Bean Cafe in Joliet was one of the last events I attended before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world.
It's the first piece anyone sees coming up the third step of stairs.
It goes very nicely with the boat art in the hall.
And that is all: for now.
So everywhere I look, I see reminders of the wonderful people in my life - and feel love.
Their love for me.
My love for them.
