Babouche - Judy Zehr

"My grandmother had a thing for far flung, historic foot ware. She was particularly enchanted with Istanbul and any feet that might have landed on the Silk Road. Fortunately, she married my grandfather who also loved travel and had plenty of money, so their apartment was full of the most interesting shoe related activities. Thus began the shoe wars. Each visit we would cram our fingers into the small brass ashtrays shaped like a Moroccan babouche and have races. Or flatten our toes into the place card settings styled after a Japanese zori until the first one screamed in pain. Which leather, block printed slipper was Anatolian, which was Ottoman? What mule was more comfortable, the blue crocaded silk of the caric style, 14th century, or, the more Russian influenced, made from old Uzbek ikats? We broke into loud disagreements always settled by my grandmother's authoritative clap clap of two 15th century french wood and leather estivaus. Here is the babouche that I surreptitiously pocketed during my last visit. The shoe wars escalate!"

Judy Zehr

Sock Monkey - Ronald Gometz

"His name is Fred, the monkey. He was born (made) in 1951 by Ester Gometz (my grandmother) for my first birthday. Fred is made of socks and was at my side for the first few years of my life and, always nearby for the remainder. When I was young I rarely put him down. After becoming an adult, Fred was always part of my baggage as I moved around a lot. Fred was later adopted by Gator, Chris and, Sarah and was retired to the shelf as a vivid memento of my early childhood. Even to this day I consider Fred one of my dearest friends."

Ron Gometz

Door Portal - Katie Simpson

"I found this door portal (the looking glass that you peek through to see who's there.) It was on the street in NYC several years ago. When I look at this it transports me back to that time and space."

Katie Simpson

Antonia's Taler - Antonia Lindsey

“The silver pin on this flowered scarf was made from a coin in Nazi Germany, hammered and pierced to reveal a song bird. My mother wore it, singing through months of incarceration in a Russian prison during the occupation, after receiving this gift from her mother, Antonia, the church singer and resistor who refused to sing anymore in protest of orders from the Gestapo that sent their pastor off to the death camps. When I wear these symbols, I connect to the legacy of the song, or the silence it it’s place, the value of each person’s own statement in times of oppression.”

Antonia Lindsey

Cookie Jar - Sean Casey

"I got the cookie jar as a present from my mom many years ago (10?) I've always liked 'Pippen'. Irrepressibly optimistic and good natured. I'm not much into "things" or possessions, but it's travelled around with me through my several moves, so it's acquired some sentimental value, exudes optimism and comfort and, I enjoy looking at it, like a work of art or like family photos."

Sean Casey

Lion - o The Reminder - Amber Marie Oxford

"This piece is the only thing I have from one of the most influential and short lived women in my life. My Aunt was house bound from heart complications and diabetes and I had the pleasure of spending over a week with her one summer. As we stayed up late, she'd crochet and enchant me with tales of her childhood and my ancestry. She taught me what real beauty and strength is within myself and to never forget it. I was delighted when she gave me this lion, for her finished projects were few and far between from the operations and sicknesses she had. He reminds me of her, always."

Amber Marie Oxford

Juliette's Hot Pink Ribbon - Marianne Kempter

"My mother's European frugality is believed to have been a result of growing up during and, surviving the turbulence of WW2 France. During the 1960's she brought home from a brief employment an enormous quantity of hot pink ribbon on spools. Over the years she has utilized it for a multitude of purposes from the pretty to the practical. Now at 89 as her life winds down so do the spools, with only two remaining. Her name is Juliette, her legacy is forever entwined with this hot pink ribbon, in our hearts and memories."

Marianne Kempter

Grandma Angelo's Apron and Mug - Ellen Bossen

"We use to go to grandma Angelo's house in the summer. Five kids in my family and all of our cousins, at least a dozen running around. She fixed country breakfasts: oatmeal mush, eggs, bacon, and flapjacks. The special part was the hot chocolate in mugs that were thick green or tan glass and, if she had marshmallows to put on top of the hot chocolate we would be so happy. Round salt and pepper short curly hair, round rosy cheeks and rounded everywhere else. She would tie her yellow apron with a torn pocket around her waist and the band would be swallowed up above a rounded tummy."

Ellen Bossen

Kathryn Pomeroy's Leather Jacket - Rebecca Brock

"The story goes that Aunt Kathryn went deer hunting with Uncle Pat and their son Tim every year. They road horses up into the mountains where they set up camp and hunted the deer. Out of deep respect for the deer that they hunted for food, Aunt Kathryn made the deer skin into a coat, buttons craved out of antler. I inherited the jacket because I am like her in many ways."

Rebecca Brock

Letters From Viet Nam - Celeste Bergin

"I have a stack of love letters written to me from my fiance during Viet Nam (late sixties). He wound up jilting me and marrying someone else (oddly enough, he met her in Viet Nam). I've never known what to do with the letters and yet I can't throw them away."

Celeste Bergin

Horn - Nicole Lavelle

"I took a bike tour last summer with this horn affixed to my handlebars. To me it represents my taking a big scary leap in traveling independently, the way I want to travel. Girls are tough, I am tough, and this reminds me of that."

Nicole Lavelle

A Novel - Alex McCarl

"Less Than Zero - The book had more impact on my life than any before or since. It represents the way I felt at eighteen. I've loaned it to many friends and it always gets returned to me."

Alex McCarl

White and Black Lines - Alison Drozd

"My very close friend made this object. he makes them for himself and his friends. he made this one before I knew him but it has always been my favorite - i have considered it a letter written to me."

Alison Drozd

Music Box - Tamar Monhait

"My gramma was a collector. One of her collections was music boxes - tons of them. This is one of my favorites. I am a collector too..."

Tamar Monhait

Blue Kazoo - Laura Merton

"A life changing teacher I had in high school gave our entire class a kazoo. On our last day of high school, his last day before retiring, we all went out to the field behind school and played a song on our kazoos."

Laura Merton

Wooden Toy Airplane - Harrell Fletcher

"This was a toy I played with as a child. My parents saved it and now my daughter plays with it."

Harrell Fletcher

Wind-up Kangaroo - Cyrus Smith

"My grandfather collected wind-up toys. He would pour them out on the table and wind them all up endlessly, laughing the whole time. I found this kangaroo really, the same as one that he owned."

Cyrus Smith

Polka Dot Tote - Libby McCarl

"This purse was given to me by my mom's best friend Diane, who has since passed. It's been used to house many a girly thing(s) throughout the years."

Libby McCarl

My Mother’s Wool Gloves - Suzanne Malitz

"When my mother died, I was a teenager, and I wanted to keep a piece of her, which in my case meant some of her clothes…
I had long been fascinated with her collection of gloves, mainly elegant fabric or sleek leather ones, signs of a bygone time when women wore gloves when they went out. I never saw my mother wear any of these gloves. I read them as clues of who my mother had been as a woman, what she was like before I was born…and maybe in part as the woman I might later become….
I still keep the leather gloves in the bottom of my dresser, and try them on from time to time. I never have the occasion to wear them…but this pair of plain beige wool gloves- I wore these for several winters, literally wearing them out (I think there was already a hole in them when I started wearing them). They were warm and surprisingly snug fitting ( I never can get over that they fit me so well…)…they made me feel closer to her in a way…"

Suzanne Malitz
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