Whenever I am in the kitchen or working in the living room, there are several things around my home that remind me of people. When the reminder hits my mind, I stop and say a prayer for them. I know they didn't give me the items with a string attached in mind but their kindness certainly gets paid back in my simple way of remembering them.
One Easter, the Holy Saturday Mass was crowded when we saw an elderly friend come down the aisle. My family squeezed in more tightly and made room for her and it made the Mass that much more beautiful to suddenly share it with a friend. The next time we saw her, she handed me a gift bag and card. It was totally unexpected. It was a beautiful standing picture of the Blessed Mother. I immediately put it on my shelf when we returned home and it has been there for over eight years now. Sad to say, the generous giver passed away two years ago. Every time I clean the house and dust, the picture get an extra swipe with the cloth as I say a little prayer for her soul. Her generousity got her some extra prayers for her eternity.
We used to have a family next door. They were Protestants but the mother and I got to be great friends and had a lot of thoughtful conversations the summer before they left for Brazil. I had a newborn and she was working on a doll house for her girls. I rocked my baby, she worked, and we talked and talked. When they left, she gave me the key to her house and said to get whatever I wanted from what they couldn't take with them before the landlady took possession of the house. I got several handy items. One of them is an old-fashioned, red mixing bowl which I have come to like very much. It is my soup bowl at lunch. It mixes up small amounts of icing for cakes. No one touches my red bowl without consequences. I use it a lot and every time I do, I remember my friend, Linda. We corresponded for a few years while she was in Brazil. In her last letter, she said she was looking for a way to be needed in her ministry in Brazil. Two weeks later, she was killed in a car accident. The bowl reminds me of her so often and she also gets a prayer when the bowl comes into use in my daily life.
It made me think and wonder what I might have given people over the years that could evoke memories and thoughts. Needless to say, I know it doesn't take much to bring back a memory and wonder if my two friends are laughing at how my thoughts of them are triggered by such items.
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