Sunday, October 19, 2008

An Old Suitcase

We spent most of today helping my mom with some things around the house. At some point I went down in the basement for something and I discovered this suitcase. It's my dad's from when he was in the Air Force and I had never seen it before today. If you look closely enough, you can read his childhood address: 486 Berkeley Rd. The suitcase was heavy enough that I knew something was inside. I of course opened it immediately, on the concrete basement floor.

Before I tell you what is inside, I want to tell you that in my grief over my dad's death, I am taking such comfort in remembering -even if it makes me cry my eyeballs out. I love remembering and I can tell I am going to be one of those moms someday who tells my children story after story about their Grandpa they'll never get to know. My hope is that these stories will have at least some of the influence on my future children's lives as my dad's presence had on my own life. I am also taking great comfort in all the tangible things I have that remind me of my dad, especially photos and some childhood letters. I may share some of those things here eventually.

When I opened the suitcase, I found several cartons of slides, about 10 boxes or so and some papers. There were also several typed copies of an egg roll recipe from Thailand, held together with a rusty paper clip:

Each of the slide boxes were marked as to what they contained, most were taken while my dad was in the Air Force, many when he was stationed in Thailand. I've always known these slides existed, but never discovered or seen them until today. My dad dabbled in photography when he was younger and I am excited to see these slides for the first time and maybe make some prints from them. Although it does sadden me I cannot ask my dad about them. That to me is the hardest thing so far about losing my dad: knowing I cannot speak with him anymore. Despite being close with my dad, I think when someone important dies, there is always a feeling of things left unsaid. In this case, especially since my dad died so suddenly, I feel there were many conversations we hadn't even had yet. It is then that I turn back to my memories. I have so many memories to be thankful for and it is important to remember that.

So I suppose this post means this blog is back. It may not be very crafty for a while, and I may get a tad melancholy, but this blog has never been entirely craft-focused. I am much too scatter-brained for that. So it's official: I'm back...and I am definitely trying out that egg roll recipe here, just bear with me it may be a while on that one.

2 comments:

Cheryl said...

I'm glad you are back! What an amazing find. Maybe your Mom will home some insight into some of these old slides for you. This post is reminding me that somewhere my parents have some film rolls of our family way back in the day....I need to see if they can unearth them. xoxo

Dianna S said...

Wow, what a treasure! I'm happy to see you back here, and that you're doing okay. Also, my dad scanned all our family slides a while ago, and probably still has the scanner somewhere if you ever want to use it. Just let me know :)

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