The Memory Box for Warm Heart Wednesday #16

Welcome to Warm Heart Wednesday sponsored by Ms. Jenny at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent."  This is where we share something that warms our hearts.

I have a memory box that warms my heart.

Actually, this is my second memory box.  The first one was smaller and I was running out of room, so I bought a larger one at the Hallmark store a couple of years ago.  It sits on the coffee table in the den and from time to time I like to go through it and reminisce.

It holds an assortment of mementos.  When a friend or relative dies their obituary and program from the funeral goes in here.  Our deceased pets footprints are in here.  Old letters, my childhood autograph book, the lymphoma bracelet that my husband wore after our son was diagnosed...all sorts of things are included.  I even have a small childhood diary that belonged to my mother's friend from 1933.  I found it on eBay and in it she writes about walking downtown with my mother, going to the movies together, etc.  I sometimes do an eBay search for our hometown in NJ and one time it popped up.

A year ago I started working on my parents' old secretary desk.  It had originally belonged to my father's parents.  I've had it in the garage for a long time always intending to paint it.

My son helped me take it apart.  We started finding things wedged into the nooks and crannies.  More things for my memory box.

 Like my Dad's 1945 Income Tax return.  I was born in 1945 and that was the first year he had me for a deduction.  We found a couple of old negatives.  One appears to be a picture of a cabin by a lake.  The other one is someone dressed in a uniform.  We found old stamps (one is from Michigan's Centenary), a metal crochet hook, and a plastic pick up stick (which probably was from my sister and I and not as old as the other things).  There was one of my father's business cards, but it had a zip code, so wasn't too old.  However, there were some stickers with his name and company and they have a New York 17, N.Y. address which means they were from before we had zip codes.  One thing that was kind of strange was a packet of business cards that say, "Malvern F. Thomas, Rust Craft Publishers, Inc., Boston.  I have no idea who he is.  There was also a little star that says, "Bond Bread, Lone Ranger Safety Club.  It has a 1938 date on it.

I did try and find out who Mr. Thomas of Rust Craft Publishers was by googling, but had no luck. The little star was a premium of the Lone Ranger radio series.  By 1938 my dad would have been around 20 and his brother and sister teenagers, so I don't think it was from them.  Another mystery.

I've told you before that I'm a sentimental old fool, so nothing was thrown away.  If it had been in that old secretary desk for years who was I to toss it?  All of it ended up in my memory box (for my kids to throw away someday).  Does that warm your heart?

Meanwhile, I've resumed work on the secretary desk.

I'm finally done with the two coats of primer.

This piece was a real pain to paint.  Getting in all those little spaces isn't easy.  This was taken after one coat.  It's got two now.

In fact, I've started painting the color.  It will be two shades of blue with the darker shade on the inside.

 See the secret drawers?  I slid them in just so you could see where they go.  I read online that they're called secret drawers.  The secret is out now, so I won't be hiding the family gold and silver there!  There's a small door that goes between them.  All of this will be the darker blue.

Here's the lighter blue on the outside.  The darker blue is on the inside, but it's kind of hard to tell in this picture.  This is all one coat.  It will need a second and I'm hoping not a third!

Then I plan to put on at least two coats of a non-yellowing acrylic finish.  I'm doing that because of the cats.  They like to jump up on things and I want it protected.

I'd like all of you to keep asking me if it's finished yet.  I need to be held accountable or I might not get this done before I die of old age.  I'm pretty sure this darn secretary desk will warm my heart once it's done.

Now head over to Jenny's blog for a list of this week's participants.  Thanks for visiting...