My mother's aunt passed away December 13 at the age of 93. She was still feisty and cantankerous till the day she died. Some of the last words she spoke were, "No need to come now!" to my sister as she got to her bedside wondering if she would even recognize her. Well, she did!! We spent two days going through her house, sorting: to keep, to sell, to throw away. We had two truckloads of garbage! Apparently she never threw ANYTHING away! We found used foil, used ziploc bags, every jar or bowl that was ever purchased with juice, butter, jelly, etc., etc. But my favorite item had to be the bags the cereal was in from inside the cereal box. Each one was cut open, laid flat and rolled onto a rolling pin!!
We did find several items of interest though. She had several antiques I didn't know she had, such as the old victrola hand cranked record player and the records that went with it, an antique mantel clock, a full set of silver still in the plastic that had never been taken out of the box it came in, and several collectible dishes. We came across several items that belonged to my great-grandparents: several clothes items like Granny's old aprons, her bonnet, her Sunday hats, Poppa's hat, war ration stamp books, old glasses and shoes, just to name a few! And then we came across the "WHAT IN THE WORLD???" items from the cedar chests of all places! Now I should probably warn you, Kyla, my 11 year old, doesn't think I should share these stories, but they are so ridiculous and funny I have to share!
The first odd item (yes, "odd", I believe that's the word I'll use!) was a sealed enveloped, one side of it folded over and taped on each side with these words written on the outside, "Turkey breast bone 1982. Spent all day all by myself." Just by feeling the envelope we could tell that the contents of the envelope was indeed a wishbone from a turkey breast! Now grant it, this was the year that my grandfather, her brother that lived with her, died. He died in August, which means that at Thanksgiving or Christmas she was probably still mourning his death, but she was "all by herself" by her choice! I am pretty sure that if my mother hadn't invited her to dinner with us that her other brother did. And my guess is that she probably declined both invitations. She was notorious for not answering her door when we came to pick her up (because she learned to drive) for holidays! And we knew she was there because the screen door would be locked from the inside!
The second item of interest was another sealed envelope! This one was labeled simply "toenail". Our first thoughts out loud and in unison was "uh-huh!!! My Aunt Joyce who is the surgical RN and has seen things beyond what I can describe, bravely and cautiously broke the seal on the envelope and slowly (as if something was about to jump out on her!) removed the folded sheet of paper. She carefully opened the paper to reveal words written in ink, to which we all start breathing again! Just words on paper...and then...there it was...THE TOENAIL!!!! UUUUGHHHHH!!!! After we recovered from our initial reflex of gagging, we read the date the toenail was removed, the doctor who did it, how many times it had been done, and what the weather was like that day!!!
The third treasure of the day came in a small medicine jar with the lid screw on and masking tape wrapped around it to hold the seal. :) On the tape was written something about a kernel of corn that Logan had swolled. (Logan was my great-uncle, one of her younger brothers.) Sure enough, inside that bottle was a kernel of corn! So our first question was, "If he swollowed this, how did they get it to preserve in this little bottle for us to find 80+ years laters????" And again in unison, UUGGGGHHHH!! But to our surprise this was a two part treasure! Going through other closets and paper Aunt Joyce comes across and manilla envelope with a chest x-ray and a better explanation of the incident. "Logan swollowed a kernel of corn. He was 15 months old, just starting to walk but still nursing at the breast." Your thought is probably the same as mine: TMI!!! (Too Much Information!!!!)
We have laughed and laughed at our new found treasures. Unfortunately, no one in the family has been surprised by our finds. They all seem to be tipical of Aunt Mildred. But we laugh the hardest when think about her now sitting in heaven and getting the last laugh!!
So here's to you, Aunt Mil! Salute!!
