Pitted Pots and Pans, Chanel and Pearls

This weekend I went back to my childhood home to help my dad pack up some of my mom's clothes.  Some people say it is too soon, others say it isn't.  My daddy is the one who has to live with the constant reminders of my mom, and if he was ready for me to pack up and donate her many pieces of clothing and shoes, then who am I to argue.  Let me start by saying, why my mom ever encouraged me to buy her more clothes for Christmas presents and birthday presents is beyond me.  Clearly, she just couldn't say no thank you or tell me no.  That little lady had so many clothes and some still had the tags on them.  Really pretty dresses that she bought on sale for an amazing amount that she was saving to wear for the perfect occasion.  Finding the receipts to some of those clothes and seeing that she had just purchased them a month or so ago, only proves to me she never intended to leave this world so soon.  What I would do to be a size 4 so I could have kept some of those beauties and worn them for myself.



In one drawer of her dresser, I came across some clothing that had been carefully wrapped in tissue paper.  I carefully removed them from the drawer and laid them down on one of the beds.  I began to unwrap them and suddenly realized what I had come across.  About 27 years ago when my daddy's mom died, my mom went with my dad to close up my grandmother's apartment and go through her belongings.  My mom found these two, amazing sequined and beaded tops that belonged to my grandmother.  Mom brought them home with her and I never saw my mom wear them.  I guess she just thought they were too beautiful to get rid of.  I was so happily surprised to find that she still had them after all these years.  I don't know that they will fit me, or if this country girl will ever have reason to wear them, but like my mom, I will keep them safe and cherish them always.



Black sequined and beaded top.



Beautiful pale blue top with gorgeous beading.

After discovering these, I needed a mental break from what I was doing.  I had promised my dad to make him some lemon bars while I was home.  So I went to the kitchen and decided to do just that.  Cooking soothes my soul and always makes me feel better.  My mom had cooked her entire life.  Almost everything was made from scratch and she did not have all the modern day conveniences in her kitchen.  Her pots and pans were OLD!!!  Some were her mom's pots and pans.  Long before the day of Teflon coated and stick free pans, were pots and pans that became stick free from years and years of use.  Taking out her pots and pans to cook with made me feel like no matter what I cooked or baked, it would come out perfect.  Her bowls and pans have dings and scratches in them, some of them are pitted and have dents in them.  Does not matter, the food always came out of them perfect every time.  And to think I have always thought I needed the newest and improved everything in my kitchen in order to do my best.  Mom just proved, if you have love in your heart for what you are doing, it will always turn out perfect.  

Her square pan I used for the lemon bars. Many dinner rolls have risen in this pan
to feed to us kids when we were growing up.



Thought this was so cute.  Didn't even realize they had half a dozen eggs to
buy in the grocery stores.  I have never needed less than a dozen, hahaha.



The white bowl was the bowl that came with my moms very first "Mix Master" and the
other two pots were her moms.  Years of loved have been cooked in those pots.



Love all the character this pot has. I remember mom making spaghetti sauce and
chilli in this pot.






















So after I was done baking and taking my nostalgic trip down memory lane, I went back to my task at hand.  More packing.  When I opened the drawer my mom had her lingerie in, I immediately was hit by a very familiar scent. A scent that took me back to my childhood.  Tucked in the back of her drawer, in a beautiful antique lace sachet, was a bar of soap I believe my mom has had since she got married.  Is it even possible for a bar of soap to last for 58 1/2 years?  I remember as a child, finding this in her drawer and asking her why she had soap in her drawer.  She explained to me it was to keep her pretty underclothes smelling pretty.  The soap was a beautiful shade of green and had what I thought to be a bride carved into the soap and writing on the back.  It was the prettiest bar of soap I had ever seen.  I took the sachet out of the drawer and slipped the bar of soap out and held it to my nose.  I took in the sent and was instantly with my mom again.  It was her smell.  It was her scent when she had not put any other perfume on.  I cannot explain how soothing that was to my soul and I am sure some of you think I have truly lost it by now.  But that soap was my mom.  I tucked it back into the sachet and placed it in my bag to bring home and place in my drawer.

If my mom did not smell like that soap, there was only one other thing she would smell like, Chanel No. 5.  This was her signature, dressing up scent.  A bottle would last her forever, but when it got low, it was immediately replaced, from her children or by my dad as a Christmas gift or birthday present.  I brought her bottle home with me when I came home after she passed away, and every moring, I put just a drop right under my nose, so that I can be calmed by that scent every day.  Perhaps now that I have her soap, I can save the Chanel No. 5 for special occasions, like my mom did.



My mom summed up by 3 items.
Her soap for her drawer, her Chanel No. 5, and the pearls my daddy gave her
on their wedding day.  This was my mom, classic, elegant and understated.

In the same drawer where I found her soap, were several pair of gloves.  Most of them were gloves to wear in colder weather or the very common, Isotoner Gloves.  But at the very bottom of the pile of gloves, I found these white gloves.  So very soft from years of wear, with just the slightest bit of detail on the front.  I remember back when my mom would wear white gloves with suits and even when she wore long, elbow length white gloves for special occasions.  But those gloves were not in the drawer.  Suddenly my attention was drawn to a favorite picture of my mom, her wedding picture.  She and my dad did not have a regular wedding and  my mom could not afford a wedding dress.  What she wore was a beautiful navy blue wool suit.  She still has the suit but I have not found it as of yet.  Years ago, I was in a fashion show featuring Vintage clothing, and my mom lent me her wedding suit to wear in the fashion show.  I was so honored and amazed that I was able to fit into that dress.  I felt so beautiful when I was in that show.  When I saw that picture, I instantly realized why she had kept these gloves.


My beautiful mama on her wedding day.  Notice the pearls around her neck
and the gloves on her hands.



Now I know where I get my hopless romantic side from.  It was the little things in life,
that meant the most to my mom and touched her heart the most.
These are the gloves that I found, the same ones she wore on her wedding day.

I didn't keep much of what I found in my mom's closets and drawers.  But the things I did bring home, mean the world to me, and I know they meant the world to my mom too.  Without even telling me what she wanted me to have of hers, she managed to leave me clues so I would know.  I would give back every little thing to have one more day with her, but I know that will never happen.  So it is with a heavy heart, that I carefully put away the things I brought home, so that at special little times, I will get little peaks back into her life and have my little reminders of a life lived with love.

I love you mama and love the true lady that you are.  Miss you more than you know.
XXOO