Spirit Shadows

The wall next to my desk holds this..

It's a shadow, or memory box

A sort of mini hanging display case

The letter with the red text is a letter my Great-Great-Great Grandfather wrote to my Great-Grandmother in 1896

The envelope in the upper left corner is the envelope in was in

My Grandma gave this letter to me many years ago

The penmanship is an art in itself with curls and swirls that puts my sloppy handwriting to shame

And red ink!

Hmmm... quite dashing and outgoing for its day

Mailed from G-G-G Grandfather's home in Long Pine, Nebraska

An oasis of pines and trout filled springs surround by a virtual sea of prairie grass and millions of acres of wide open plains.

Mailed to a town in Iowa where my Great Grandmother was either visiting or living, not sure

He writes of chickens, the need for rain, choke cherry pickings and wishes of good health for all who see the letter.

Sharing space with the letter are other pieces and parts of family history

Another letter written by my Grandpa to my Dad & Mom from the hospital in Omaha where he was being treated for his newly diagnosed bone cancer, dated November 1975

We would lose him in August 1976

A decorative pin my Grandma received as a high school graduation gift

A name bracelet that belonged to my Dad

My Mom's wedding ring and a golden basketball that once was strung on a chain and given to her the night she was crowned "Basketball Queen" in high school

My other Grandma's rouge box still half full of a bright red rouge paste

And a picture of an exotic bird she cut off of a baking soda box many, many years ago

A pair of Onyx earrings

A locket with a picture of Dad on 1 side and my little brother Joe on the other

Several broaches

Another envelope....

Nothing anyone would notice

But I hang it close to the space I occupy most, on a daily basis

We are who we are

Because of those who came before us

I take the good that came of that

Hang it behind glass

Release the not so good that came of that

Scatter it to the winds

Spirit lives in my house

In a glass case

Close to me

Everyday