Fun Monday

Today's Fun Monday assignment is to post about an object that has special meaning for you.

I can be so dense sometimes, I swear, and this was one of those days. I'm going to blame the fact that I am not a sentimental person and that I'm living here in Ireland and anything of sentimental value is in climate-controlled storage back in Houston.

By the way, there's another Monday post below. Just don't want you to miss anything. .

But back to Fun Monday. So I walked around the house to try to figure out what the heck means a lot to me. Sure, we have some stuff for the baby and even stuff from when John was a baby and that stuff means a lot. But it's all not very real yet. And it means a lot because it's about other people and, let's face it, this is all about ME!

So considering I'm a craving-happy pregnant woman, I could have mentioned that bag of sour gummy worms that John bought for me the other day. Those meant A LOT. But that's kind of flaky.
I came across my prenatal vitamins and have to acknowledge that they mean A LOT. They are keeping me and the baby healthier, especially on those days when only a Quarter Pounder with Cheese will do. (Don't you judge me!) But that just wasn't right.

So I started thinking about items that have travelled far and wide with me. My toiletry kit is part of every single vacation or trip, so it has a lot of meaning for me. Lots of memories. . .started in college with England, Paris, Stockholm, Scotland, Spain, Costa Rica, Washington D.C., Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, The Netherlands, Shanghai, Ireland, and countless trips around Texas. It's already out and ready to be packed for my trip back to Houston next month, but, no, that wasn't it, either.

So I went downstairs and looked at our collection of cards and pictures on the mantle that people have sent us. I have cried or almost cried at opening each one of these. They make me feel so much more connected to friends and family back home. But this wasn't it, either.

I thought about what is really important to me. . .visual media. Reading is such a big part of my life that I would just go nutso if I couldn't do it. Or learn braille (had a college prof once who learned braille for 6 months to combat severely debilitating eye strain. He got his vision back, by the way.) But I could not do anything without my corrective lenses, so I thought about my glasses.

Then I finally remembered the one sentimental item that I lugged all the way over here to Ireland with: my mom's rocking chair. Yup, they shipped it over here. Thank you, John's company! I mean, how could I forget this humongous thing I had insisted on shipping over here for my baby!! Dense, I told you!
The rocking chair has existed as long as I have. It rocked me to sleep (sometimes) almost 30 years ago, and then was a staple in my parents' living room for 25 years. It has seen some tough times. . . one of the dogs (not mine, thank goodness) decided to snack on one of the rockers many years ago. It has gone through several "wardrobe" changes. And now it has traveled to Ireland so it can rock a new generation. I think I try to stay pretty "cool" and unsentimental, but I certainly think having this rocking chair is really neat.
Of course, I looked at Kamryn's blog (where the topic came from) and she's got a 50-year-old rocking chair on her post. Guess it's a pretty common sentimental item. Hopefully this one will be passed on a few more generations!