I don’t know if it’s my age, I suppose it might be, but I think lots about what I want to leave behind when my days are over. Don’t mean to be depressing but so much has happened here in our lives this week with some horrendous tragedies that I am pondering this thought of legacies.
Of course, I have tangible things, jewelry, keepsakes, and favorite things that I will leave but my grandmother had a special keepsake that now, as I remember, was without question the very best and greatest gift that I can imagine even now. She had thought about this, years before I was born or any other of my cousins, because of the extent of her plans and purposes. She had what she called her “keeping chest”. It was a rectangular chest homemade from cedar and the smell when it was opened, I still recall. She had a plethora of riches from her life held in this small trunk. It held pieces of things that her mother, my Granny Key had made, tatted, embroidered, and crochet items, doilies and just scraps of lace. There were embroidery hoops, a bridle veil, yellowed with age, several pieces of costume jewelry, and a small locked wooden box. This little box was the thrill and delight of all the treasures for me. She had two sons who passed at a very early age, and she had keepsakes from their short-lived lives locked in the box. There were their birth certificates, gowns, and booties. I can now understand her tender heart and the tears shed as she told me about these little boys. This was her treasure box, and these were her treasures.
I was given several things from my grandmother’s chest as I grew older, a little pink oil lamp my mother got for Christmas when she was ten years old, a doily that my Granny key made and an embroidery hoop, and a handkerchief that my daughter carried when she married. I also have one of her hand-made quilts that covers one of my beds.
I can’t think of any thing that I have that would be this cherished by my children, but I believe that there might be some things they will need to keep passing on to their children, my grandchildren. What I really want to leave my children will be a legacy of how much I loved them, prayed for them, and treasured them in my lifetime. The tangible, touchable, and material things will be readily seen but it is the unseen that I hope to leave.
WHAT IS TATTING? Tatting is an ancient form of lace making. Queen Victoria enjoyed this type of sewing. Tatting involves wrapping thread usually a very fine thread around one or two shuttles, shaped like a tiny boat, with a hold in the middle containing “catches”. No needles are involved. The shuttles would guide the thread into a pattern of knots to create rings and chains.
CHICKEN AND DUMPLING CASSEROLE
Pour ¼ cup of melted butter in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch casserole dish, Sprinkle ¾ cup of cooked shredded chicken on top. Mix 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of self-rising flour and pour over chicken slowly trying not to disturb chicken. Whisk together large can of cream of chicken and two cups of chicken stock and slowly pour overall. Do not stir. Bake 400* 35 to 40 minutes until browned
