Do you have memories of objects from your past you want to have again? I do; I have a bunch of them. Spo-fans know from the “Curious things about the house” entries I have heaps of knickknacks and bibelots. Between these and the booty retrieved from my parent’s house last year, you would think that I would have enough. All the same there are some items I would give lots to possess. They have in common they are associated with good times and memories. Here are some examples:

 

This little ornament was poolside at The Big Ruby’s resort in Key West, where some of my best memories come from.

 

Also from Florida is this keyring of three plastic seashells; I like this colour combination. 

 

A later object is this Spo-shirt; it is one of my better-made ones. I made for a friend who has declined into dementia. I can not get hold of him anymore. Goodness knows if he still has it or if his family has thrown it out. I would like it back to remember him by. 

As you can see these items all have photographs. I can pull up anytime and remember. Jack Gilbert, in his poem “The lost hotels of Paris”:

“It’s the having not the keeping that is the treasure. We look up at the stars and they are not there… We see the memory of when they were, once upon a time. And that too is more than enough.”

Memories of things and not the things themselves are what matters. 

All the same there is a childish part of me that wants these things.  

Earlier this month I visited Father, who now lives in a room at Brother #3’s abode. I was curious to see what he had, what carried with him after forty years of living in his house. I thought a lot of things he kept was silly. I tactually did not ask why on earth are you holding onto “X” when it isn’t practical and taking up space. I knew better; I know we are funny creatures who want – need? – to hang on to things, and usually the mawkish not the practical ones. 

In “King Lear” Lear’s daughter’s question why he has to have his knights and finally anything at all. He responds: 

O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars

Are in the poorest thing superfluous.

Allow not nature more than nature needs.

I do not need to find or retrieve these or any items from my past. While waiting for something online to happen I will google-search “seashell keyring’ or “frog statue” to see if the cosmic slot machine pays off, but it is mostly done for fun. I wonder if I would actually purchase these items if someday I hit the jackpot. I guess I won’t.