Someone Else's Keepsake

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Today, I welcome guest blogger and buddy, David Aft, who wanted to surprise his lovely wife with a special gift and a story on this day of love. David sent his story to me last week and asked that I wait and post it today. Happy Valentine's Day, Pauli Aft!

Enjoy David's story titled, "Someone Else's Keepsake."

From time to time the spirits who look after the weather issue a perfect mid-winter day.  Sunshine animates the crisp air and a little breeze reminds you that it’s not quite spring.

It was on just such a morning that I noticed a garage sale at a small house near my office.  The purveyors were busily answering questions and collecting a dollar here, fifty cents there and generally making good-natured small talk.

One of them told me the house had belonged to his sister, who had recently passed away after a long struggle with dementia.  Hundreds of pieces of her estate were gently organized in the open carport and driveway.  As I surveyed the diverse offerings, I thought about the things we accumulate in our lives.  We accumulate experience, knowledge, insight and perhaps even a little wisdom.  We also accumulate a host of worldly goods that survive us as a collection of artifacts—a modest Rosetta stone of our earthly lives.

This notion added depth and a certain poignancy to the sale, and for a moment, I was not looking at a collection of knick-knacks and lightly used kitchen ware, but a final testament.

Amidst the possessions, David spotted a tiny replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Amidst the sprawl, a short set of metal shelves held about forty smaller items.  These seemed a little more personal and a couple of them caught my attention.  A small brass replica of the Eiffel Tower peeked out from behind a very interesting lucite paperweight from the seventies.  I asked the gentlemen working the sale about the tower, and he looked at it and told me he remembered it was special to his sister, but he didn’t know or recall why.

My imagination raced just a little, as I pictured a young woman looking at the miniature and dreaming of going to Paris.  Maybe someone had given it to her as a souvenir from a memorable week visiting outdoor cafes and museums.  Maybe it was her keepsake, a memento of a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

David and Pauline Aft posing with the grand Eiffel Tower.

These thoughts were quickly followed by an abrupt realization that those stories would never be told, as they were the provenance of a woman whose memories had left her long before her quiet demise.

I stood there and realized I was surrounded by a sea of keepsakes, de-tethered from the memories that made them special—once again, empty vessels perhaps waiting to be given root in a new imagination.

I have a friend and fellow garage sale enthusiast who told me some things are just not meant to end up in the junk pile, and I think I agree with her—sometimes a keepsake can be repurposed, with its own story and pedigree enriched by another chapter.

I purchased the tiny tower, along with the lucite paperweight from the Seventies.  I plan to keep the lucite piece at my office and give the Eiffel Tower to my beautiful wife on Valentine’s Day as a reminder of our spectacular and romantic trip to Paris a couple of years ago.  They will each enjoy life anew and join the family of keepsakes that accent our story and become, all too briefly, the keepers of our own memories.

—David Aft, February 2016 (for his wife, Pauline)

Thanks for the blog post, David. And again, Happy Valentine's Day Project Keepsake readers. Keep those stories coming, and remember, everyone has a keepsake, and every keepsake has a story to tell.

Friends and Signet Rings

David Aft has been a helpful, generous friend since 2001 when we first worked together at a nonprofit organization in Northwest Georgia. We've always had chemistry and rapport, especially evident in our social and political views and opinions. 

David Aft wrote a story about Harry Aft's signet ring, passed to him after his grandfather's death.

Go back in time with me to the week after I told David about my idea to collect and publish stories about keepsakes. He stood in front of my desk and read his keepsake story aloud to me as if he was delivering a soliloquy from Hamlet. He wrote a story about an heirloom—his grandfather's signet ring. He keeps it safely stowed in a safe deposit box, but he showed it to me on the day he read me his story.

But writing and giving me his story was just the beginning. He was determined to help me achieve my dream of publishing a book of keepsake stories, and so he twisted the arms of many family members and friends and somehow convinced others to contribute stories to my collection, too. I’m not sure how he shook them down, but he did. I got beautifully-crafted stories from his parents. From Tom Durkan. From Joanne and Marvin Lewis. And from his wife, Pauline, who wrote a haunting, retrospective story about a pill box hat. I will feature excerpts from all of these stories in the future, but today, I give you an excerpt from David Aft’s story, “The Signet Ring.”

“The ring is simple and elegant, far different from my memories of Grandpa Harry, whose 6-foot 3-inch frame never projected either elegance or simplicity. I learned that the ring was a gift from his father, a modest immigrant from Eastern Europe who brought little but his faith from the Urals in 1908. According to family folklore, the ring was a present on my grandfather’s eighteenth birthday. I imagine that the ring was acquired at significant sacrifice, as my grandfather turned eighteen at the height of the Great Depression.

I cherish the ring. I look at it often, although I almost never wear it.

I think at some level we all struggle with finding authenticity in our lives—a meaning that transcends the day-to-day stuff and gives us an emotional and historical touchstone. My personal quest probably won’t end with my grandfather’s signet ring, but there is a gentle certainty in knowing that other than DNA, his ring is probably the only other thing in this world that my great grandfather, grandfather, father and I have shared—have touched. My son and hopefully his son will eventually share this memento and, through its modest presence, understand that they are part of something that is larger than themselves.

They will never know Harry Aft, nor will his ring ever convey his towering presence, steadfast work ethic or penchant for corny jokes. They will never understand his love of baseball and passion for fresh-squeezed orange juice. What I hope they will understand is that we value his life and understand its relation to our own. Further, I hope they understand that it is not merely the links that make a chain strong, but their interconnectedness that gives them permanence. Harry’s signet ring is my link.”

— David Aft from Project Keepsake

Signed copies of Project Keepsake are available at Dave & Pauli's Art Emporium in downtown Dalton.

But there's more to the story. David and Pauline recently opened Dave & Pauli’s Art Emporium (www.daveandpaulis.com), a working artist’s studio and art gallery specializing in creative works by local and regional artists in downtown Dalton. It’s open on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Just a few days before opening the doors, they toured me through the gallery as if I was the Queen of England. The gallery explodes with bold, vibrant colors and interesting works, almost as if it is a living, breathing being pulsing with creativity. Upstairs, they've created an intimate music lounge like none other in Northwest Georgia. I was captivated—simply captivated!

And then I saw something familiar on their counter—something blue. I was speechless. I've had such a hard time getting the big book stores to carry Project Keepsake, but my friends jumped in and saved me. Dave & Pauli’s is the only place in Dalton offering Project Keepsake.

Thank you David, and thank you Pauline. You are great friends—real keepers—and I wish you every success with Dave & Pauli’s Art Emporium and in the other endeavors that fill your life from this day forward.

sale

Sale Price:$16.99 Original Price:$18.99

Project Keepsake is on sale right now! FREE shipping and handling! Great gift item, especially for the holidays. Buy it right here right now, and I'll throw in a free bookmark.

Presidential Keepsakes

Every Presidents Day, I remember a trip my husband and I took several years ago to the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia.  We expected to see lots of western art that day, and we did, but we eventually wandered into a room full of presidential keepsakes and mementoes.  Wow!

The Carolyn and James Millar Presidential Gallery showcases an unbelievable collection of authentic, one-page, signed letters from each president alongside portraits (many by Yousuf Karsh) and interesting pieces of presidential memorabilia. We spent a lot of time in that room reading each letter and thinking about each presidential relic.

A new presidential keepsake that David Aft gave me for Christmas 2013—a sheet of old Carter campaign postcards and a campaign button.

In Project Keepsake's introduction, I mention watching a television special years ago featuring the president and first lady touring a reporter around the White House. They paused in each room and pointed to a vase, a piece of furniture, a painting, and other keepsakes and relayed the history of each object to viewers—where the item came from, what year it was added to the White House collection, its significance, and how it became a part of America’s historical fabric. The stories behind the pieces drew me in.

And the following day, I surveyed my own home and realized that so many of my possessions had stories behind them.  I started writing about my keepsakes and telling their stories, and so Project Keepsake was born.

If you haven't visited the Booth Western Art Museum, you should. Browse the pieces in their immense western-themed art collection, take a stroll through the presidential gallery, and take a look at the keepsakes on display. You won't be disappointed. And while you are in Cartersville, indulge yourself at the Appalachian Grill next door. 

My friend, David Aft, gave me a Christmas gift a few weeks ago that is presidential in nature and destined to stay in my keepsake collection for many years to come. My close friends and family members know how much I love and admire Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter. David gave me a sheet of old Carter campaign postcards and a Carter-Mondale campaign button.  I hung the postcards in a very prominent place next to my desk. They make me smile. Thank you, David, for giving me my very own pieces of presidential memorabilia.