Like most people, they had simply put
things in the basement over a long period of time likely thinking
they would sort it all out later! Some of the kids had also left
things behind, or stored things there “temporarily”....meaning
virtually forever!
Well, the Call To Haul folks came and
went, and Sandi certainly re-lived some moments as she worked through
the years of memories.
She came home later with a few items
that she could not bear to let go of, as they reminded her of her
youth and of her Parents and family as they “used to be”.
I think we all have little things that
remind us of days gone by...and days we wish we could experience
again. For me, it will always be the cuckoo clock that I watched my
Mom pick out in Triberg, Germany...while visiting me when I was
stationed In Berlin. It hangs on our living room wall and is the
single most powerful reminder of her in my daily life.
Well, Sandi takes out of the car, a
rather large “centerpiece” (for lack of a better description)
that appears to be made of hand carved wood. It is a three tier
affair, with individually crafted shallow bowls, and individual
pieces of fruit, also hand carved and made of wood. I see a Banana,
Guava, Star Fruit, a Pear and even a Pineapple atop the whole thing!
The three tiers rotate “lazy Susan” style and it all appears to
be mostly intact, though it is a bit dirty and covered in 40 plus
years of dust!
I am told it came from Panama, where
Sandi's Mom is from. (Sandi is half Panamanian and half Puerto
Rican) It is one of few items from Panama that has survived the trip
from Panama and the 40 plus years of Tacoma living, (with 6 kids in a
tiny house!) since her family settled here in Tacoma.
She is smiling and tells me how her Mom (whom she has always called "Mama")
used to task her with rubbing linseed oil over ever crack and crevice
of this wooden contraption! She tells me how she was made to use a
toothbrush to ensure that all of the intricately carved parts got
their share of oil! Now, she said this half smiling, and half
recalling the tediousness of having to do this as a young child!
Even so, I could see that this piece meant a great deal to her and was a powerful connection to her Mom, who has been suffering with Dementia for
the past several years and sometimes forgets who Sandi is.
Knowing its value to Sandi, I take it
from her, carefully disassemble the whole thing and begin to clean it
up. I used some steel wool to clean some of the decades old dirt and
grime off the bowls. I fired up the compressor and used some high
pressure air to root out the gunk in the small cracks and crevices.
It took a bit longer than I thought to clean this thing up, but in
the end, after breaking out the toothbrush like she had remembered
all those years ago, and applying a cleaner/wood restorer all over
the piece, it began to come back to life.
I spent a couple hours polishing the
pieces of fruit, and making sure that everything fit and went back
together properly. There were a couple minor issues that I will have
to attend to at another time, but it all went together, worked and
looked very nice! I brought the whole thing upstairs and placed it
in the center of our coincidentally, just purchased dining room
table, (Dark Mango wood) and it looked fantastic!
I brought Sandi upstairs and showed her
the cleaner version of her memorable treasure, and she just beamed.
I could tell it reminded her of her Mom...her much younger Mom, and I
told her it looked perfect and will remain on our dining room table as a
treasured family heirloom. She smiled and hugged me and thanked me
for cleaning it all up.
An unexpected memory brought back to life, to be enjoyed by yet another generation...It was a good day:)
An unexpected memory brought back to life, to be enjoyed by yet another generation...It was a good day:)
When my daughter came home later and
saw it for the first time, she remarked, “that is so pretty”!
Hmmmm..I wonder how she would feel about putting some Linseed oil on
it from time to time!!?
