favorite things, part one

This week in Susannah's class, we are taking photos of our favorite objects - things we keep for sentimental reasons or things we just love. Above are my grandma's wedding rings. They are so tiny - she was just 5'1" and 90 lbs. when she married my grandpa. I do not take after her! I hadn't realized how pretty these rings are. They need to be cleaned, and in person are much smaller than they appear in the photo. My grandparents didn't have much money starting out. My grandma moved off her family's farm, and my grandpa was barely back from World War II when they got married. They bought a little house, he got a job, and they had a baby girl who would eventually become my mom.


This is my grandpa's glass eagle. He kept it on his desk at Dow Corning where he was an accountant. After he died in 1993, my mom gave it to me since I was in college and was so inspired to have a successful career like him. When I got sick with Lyme disease-but-didn't-know-it-was-Lyme-disease in 2004, I held it while I laid on the couch, feverish, hallucinating, and crushingly exhausted. It felt so cool in my hands and I'd just clutch it and hope that some of his strength would help me through. I always had it with me when I went to sleep those first few months of being sick.



Meet Plumpy. She was my favorite doll as a toddler. She is hard, hollow, painted plastic, and now that I really look at her, has a rather unsettling smile on her face. I don't know if she was named Plumpy by the manufacturer or by me, but it sure fits. Especially the side view. It's kind of like how I look after a big taco dinner.