02 February, 2017

“A Toast to Childhood Memories!”

 Well….I cannot believe that I’m starting yet another Chronicle today.  I just finished the installment entitled “I Got A Phone Call That Morning!”  That one really took me down an interesting memory lane. (smile)

I remembered that I wrote about creating a series of shorter installments that I’d title “Miscellaneous Musings”, and I think it might be cool for me to start them with this piece!!

I keep looking at the shots of the decanter and glasses set that I received from my daughter on my 50^th Birthday, and I felt that it would be very easy to knock out a quick note because I know exactly where this came from!! (ha,ha,ha,ha)

It’s one of the nicest pieces in the collection because it has extremely unique and personal meaning for me.  I love telling friends who’ve asked about the decanter just what the story is behind the little scrolls they see inside!!

 

                                                                                                             09 February, 2017

Okay….so where was I?? (smile)  I got kinda distracted the past week or so….I was writing about the little scrolls that appear inside the decanter.  Whenever I explain them to those who ask, I have to tell them that the scrolls represent a very creative answer to the little card that I sent to Jodie on her 25^th birthday a number of years ago.

I remember that the card took us both on a nostalgic trip down memory lane as I thanked her for a “quarter century of memories”.  That still makes me smile today, and I admit that I was pretty pleased with myself for creating (what I thought at the time was) a unique little approach to writing a birthday message from Father to Daughter!! (ha,ha,ha)

Sure….most parents write nice little “Happy Birthday, I Love You” notes, and that’s certainly par for the course.  However, I think I caught her totally off guard as I wrote 25 things that she “did, said or experienced” that I fondly remembered as I had the wonderful joy and pleasure of watching her grow from infancy to young womanhood!! (smile)  I would imagine that she does not have that card today. (sigh)

Little did I know that she would take that idea, and “kick it up a notch” by then acknowledging my 50^th by presenting me with such an incredibly unique and heartwarming (as it turned out to be) crystal gift!!  I opened the package and saw the beautiful “Royal Gallery” (made in France) decanter and drinking glasses, I thought “okay, JoJo gave me a really nice drinking set!!” (smile)

However….she went above and beyond when after a moment I saw the tiny little scrolls inside.  In the accompanying card she had written something like “Hey Dad, here are 50 memories I will always have of you!!”  OMG….inside the decanter are 50 little scrolls, each one neatly typed (in a really fancy font by the way [smile]), and tied with a Black Ribbon saying “Over The Hill”, making them look like tiny little diplomas!! They are absolutely the cutest little “fortune cookie like” keepsakes one could imagine if I do say so myself. (smile)

I remember calling JoJo on the phone right away, and she and I had the greatest conversation as I opened each one and we talked about what she had written on these tiny little documents!!  Some of them are really nice, some of them are quite funny, some of them are pretty poignant….but all of them were surprises to me, because I had no idea that she had remembered such things.

This afternoon, I just pulled 5 of them out of the decanter (which of course now I’ve had for 17 years!!), and (although you may consider this TMI) here are the ones that I pulled.

•  When you let Leslie drive your car before I had my license. (her BFF Leslie had gotten her license first, and the two of them wanted to go shopping if I remember that one correctly [smile])
• Drinking Peach Schnapps from frozen glasses on the patio. (yep….I haven’t done that in a long, long time now. I’m more of a Vodka Tonic guy these days!! [ha,ha,ha])
• Arriving late on Graduation Day. (OMG…I still tell folks that story. I never saw Jodie receive her Bachelor’s Degree!!  I remember that I got to the ceremony [I had flown from California to N. Carolina] literally only moments after she received it, and saw her in her row of recipients just as they were about to sit down!!  I’ll never forget her looking up in the stands, and mouthing the words “Where were you??  I remember mouthing back “I got hung up at the airport, I’m sorry!!”)
•  Your old albums and making tapes. (yeah….of course they’re no longer albums, they’re digital downloads and CDs, and yes…I’m still collecting my music!!)
•  Polishing your shoes & starching your shirts on Sunday. (uh-huh….my prep for the work week regimen.  These days do not find me so nattily consistent!! [ha,ha,ha])

 Okay, I certainly know that these tiny childhood musings do not have value or meaning to anyone but the two of us.  But…. inside that decanter are dozens more of those “miniature diplomas” that have quotes of things remembered, things that managed to choke me up a bit, and even brought a few tears to my eyes when JoJo and I were talking about them 17 years ago!!

WHOA….now this is totally eerie!!  I was putting all of the scrolls back in the decanter a moment ago.  I had emptied the decanter so all 50 scrolls were out, and then I picked at random the 5 that I just wrote about.  The very last scroll that I put back, I decided to open to see what it said.  I cannot believe that this is the one that was the last one to go “back in the bottle” so to speak.  It said….

• Having lunch on the water, watching the boats go by.

 Are you kidding me??  What are the odds that the last diploma mentions something that my daughter and I did together years ago, that we will be doing literally again in just more than 2 months from today on the Isle of Antigua?? (smile)  From April 28^th to May 8th, we will be enjoying Sailing Week there for the first time.  It will definitely be cool also, because Jodie will celebrate her birthday (May 7^th) while we’re there.  I’m really looking forward to it.

Perhaps this Chronicle installment was meant to be a precursor to us having another “memory” to (maybe) drop into the decanter in the future!!  At any rate Jodie will someday have all of these tiny memories back in her possession.  I’m hoping that when that day comes, maybe she’ll take the time to empty the decanter, and read all of them once again.

Maybe she’ll take one of these glasses, and pour herself a nice drink as she prepares to read them.  Indeed, if she does that, I’d be really pleased if she takes a moment, lifts that glass, thinks of me with a warm loving smile….and proposes….”A Toast to Childhood Memories!!”