Finding Value in the Things of the Past

I was thinking today about old things. Not 70's or 80' old but 50's and farther back old. I love old things. I love old cars, old furniture and especially old dishes. I have a rocking chair I was given once by a baby sitting client. She said an aunt had given it to her parents when she was about 16 and that the aunt had gotten it from her parents, and they had gotten it from a friend. The friends had gotten from a grandparent of theirs, who had gotten it from a second hand shop. All in all it traced back about 80-90 years. I have had it roughly... 18 years, so now it is close on or over 100 years old. I love to sit in it and think about the babies it rocked (my youngest was a toddler when I got it). I hope some day to rock a grandbaby or two in it too. It sits in a corner of my bedroom, my "reading area", in which I rarely read. It has the mended rocker that broke when my husband tried to lean over the chair and stumbled and pulled it over backwards (I was in it at the time!). We paid $60 to have it fixed and all the guy did was use wood glue on it. We do not trust the wood glue so it has cable tie supports as well. I love the dark brown stain, it is so old that it gums up in summer though and can be rolled off. I toy with having it redone but worry it would hurt the memories it has.

Old things actually speak to me. I know that sounds silly, but when I find an old dish, blanket or piece of furniture I can touch it and feel the past. I live in a fairly rural area, not long ago much of this area was farms and ranches, and indeed a lot of it still is. I can see the farm or ranch wife placing a heaping dish of "smashed taters" or a platter of bread or meats on an old wooden table to feed her hard working family. I imagine how she used the old utensils I have collected, some of which I put back to work now in my own kitchen. I love getting out the old flour sifter, with its advertising on it and the red painted wooden handle. I wonder about all the different things it has sifted for. Most of my serving dishes are old ones. I have some Currier and Ives dinnerware, a favorite of mine. My mom had a large set, and some day I will have a set of 12 in it. I have an old serving dish that says "semi vitreous" on it. Not sure really how old it is, but the estimate is from the 30's -40's. When I find the old pieces, and I have had some good ones! I put them to work in my home. I do not collect them just to collect, though that would be fun too! I can not help but think how I would feel to be old and just used for display! What a useless feeling that would be! There is one exception to my use it rule. Salt and pepper shakers. I love them and I have many sets, not as many as I once had, I have whittled down my collection considerably. I once had 300 or so sets now I have about 100. Some of these I use, but my most cherished came from my mother, she had collected them and had many from the 40's and 50's, mostly cigarette premiums, like the Kool sets of Willie and Millie penguins and the red lawn mower with bobbing shakers. As you push it across the table the shakers move up and down. It really is quite sweet! Another of my treasured is a ringer washer, salt and pepper, and sugar bowl combo. It too is red and white. Actually red is my favorite kitchen color and mine is done in red white and blue! As I look around my home and see the old melded in with the new, I am pleased. There is a part of me that longs to replace each piece with an older one...isn't that backwards??