Memento: Other People's Treasure

Just as a little unnecessary forward, let me say that this is not a sad post, and doesn't have anything to do with my last two posts.  It's just another post about my many, many treasures that I've squirrelled away in Craig's closet.  The fact that the word baby appears in this and those is the only connection, emotional or otherwise.  It's my Dad's baby book that my grandmother kept.  I have strong sentimental connections to things that he had as an adult that remind me of him, or my time with him, or those things that reveal something about him that I didn't know.  This isn't really any of those things, so I haven't held onto to it because it has special meaning for me.  What I love about this little memento is how lovingly it was kept by my grandmother.  It was obviously one of her treasures, and for that reason, I can't part with it.  I can't remember how I got a hold of it, but along with it are pictures he drew in Sunday school and old baseball team photos, and even a little hat embroidered with "Tommy."  I think it's all sweet, but I'm planning on thinning it all out pretty soon.  One of the things I know I'll keep though, is this little book.  It's not even filled out past the first few pages, but my dad was her third and last child, so I'm impressed she managed to fill it in at all!  One of the best parts to me are all these sweet little congratulation cards that she kept from friends and family.  My grandmother was one to save things, too, and she used to show me her old pictures and treasures and trinkets from her life.  She kept these huge photo albums of each of her children and grandchildren, each carefully laid out and preserved.  Later in her life she had lost all of her memories, and it's really special to me to be able to hold onto a few for her.









I had no idea that Thomas was a family name.

And this, to me, was incredible.  I had no idea about a couple of these names and had forgotten the ones I knew.  I'm so glad to know my great-grandmothers' maiden names.  If I ever actually do half the things I say that I'm going to, I'm definitely going to do a little geneology research with this info. 

Fun Fact: The Britts (my grandfather Winard's parents) had ELEVEN children.  I used to think they just ran out of normal names around three of four.  Other than Winard, who's name GodBlessHim isn't going to be passed along through my line, there was also a Jasper (aka Red to my grandfather's Little Red), and Oberon, who was known to the family as Uncle OB.  There are also a whole mess of Lelas, Lilys, and Hazels in the mix.  I love it and I'm so glad she kept this book and that it wound up with me.