Story
Secret Pocket Previous Story
Shared memories bind us together.
Thirteen people sit around a table sumptuously laden with salads, breads, bowls of potatoes, and meat fanned out on a large platter. We’re hungry, but before we eat, we sing. It’s our holiday tradition—laughing, waiting our turn to render our designated solo.
Repeated patterns create our family’s solid foundation: traditions, scrapbooks, photo albums, family stories. Often the small details crystallize into profound recollections. Shared memories become intimacies that bind us together.
Four-year-old Isa creeps into the workshop to see the twin cabinets that her grandfather has built. He has worked on the cabinets for nearly a year. A labor of love, they will become heirlooms, to be enjoyed by future generations. Hidden behind a drawer, he’s installed a peg that holds a velvet pouch—a secret pocket to amuse his first grandchild. When he shows her the pouch for the first time, she understands that his gestures and expressions are clues intended to tell her: “This is special—this is a memory to last a lifetime. Only our family knows this secret.”
Like the hidden pouch, who we are grows ever more deeply embedded with our family’s mythology and traditions. We find comfort and satisfaction in belonging, and in knowing that we will forever be held in the hearts of those who care.
You may also want to visit our other websites:
Uncommon Promise Video Channel
Under the Tuscan Thumb Blog
The UP Side Lowdown by Cheryl
Repeated patterns create our family’s solid foundation: traditions, scrapbooks, photo albums, family stories. Often the small details crystallize into profound recollections. Shared memories become intimacies that bind us together.
Four-year-old Isa creeps into the workshop to see the twin cabinets that her grandfather has built. He has worked on the cabinets for nearly a year. A labor of love, they will become heirlooms, to be enjoyed by future generations. Hidden behind a drawer, he’s installed a peg that holds a velvet pouch—a secret pocket to amuse his first grandchild. When he shows her the pouch for the first time, she understands that his gestures and expressions are clues intended to tell her: “This is special—this is a memory to last a lifetime. Only our family knows this secret.”
Memories in a velvet pouch
Like the hidden pouch, who we are grows ever more deeply embedded with our family’s mythology and traditions. We find comfort and satisfaction in belonging, and in knowing that we will forever be held in the hearts of those who care.
You may also want to visit our other websites:
Uncommon Promise Video Channel
Under the Tuscan Thumb Blog
The UP Side Lowdown by Cheryl
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