Memories are powerful things

Memories are powerful things. They can bring emotions to the  forefront of your mind with the whiff of a familiar scent or the sight of a treasured object. A funny joke can make you remember someone dear who use to tell it. Something that was irritating to you becomes endearing in your memory of that person. 

We lost my mother in law to cancer several years back. In the first few years the memories of her were so painful to me. I would often associate them with my loss. As the years have passed it has become so much easier to remember her with love, with a chuckle, with the fondness that we shared. Losing her was losing my best friend. It was hard to sort through all of the emotions. Those early memories, while painful, yes, were cathartic. They helped me to heal. And now that they aren't so raw they bring me great comfort.

One memory that I love about my mother in law was her devotion to the discount store  Dollar Tree.  She loved to shop there. And she did so frequently. One of the items she bought almost every time we went was those little magnifying eye glasses which she wore to read. I inherited many things from her. A pair of those eye glasses were one item I got from her house after her death. I used them for a costume I put together for a costume party and at the time it was such a great reminder of who she was. She would have adored dressing up with me so having that reminder of her with me was comforting.

As a couple more years passed I started to need to use those glasses occasionally for small print. One of the reports I regularly read at work has incredibly small print. I've taken to using those inherited "readers" every time I'm at work. And they never fail to bring her to my mind with a smile and a laugh at her quirky Dollar Tree obsession.

Memories are powerful things. God knew us enough to know that we would need them not only for daily life but for comfort and love as we live out this journey of ours.

What memories have you been blessed by lately?