Yesterday being Thanksgiving we got out the good stuff - fancy bowls we never use, china we got for a wedding present that we rarely use (no wonder I still have all the pieces), and the silverware we got for the occasion. It made for a special dinner and the roast beef, green beans, salad and smashed garlic potatoes tasted even better.
Madeline set the table, and when she got to the silverware part, we had to search for a minute to find the box (since we hadn't seen it since Christmas last year). There it was in the upper middle cabinet - the box.
It is a plain box, about nine inches by 14 inches, made of maple perhaps stained to a light color. It is very well made and contains not just the silverware, but a few other sentimental odds and ends.
Open it up and there is the piece of linen my mom carefully embroidered for one of her first 4-H projects. It could be a table runner or a cloth for a dresser or buffet. Light blue single stitches run along the sides, carefully counted and woven through the strands of cloth.
There is a note written to me from her, just as carefully crafted as the cloth, written to quickly say hello and remind me that she loved me. "Hope you are having a happy..." was always the subject of her little notes.
The box itself is special too - it was presented to my parents at an Eagle Creek dance over seventy years ago for being the most recently newlywed couple at the dance. She had kept her good silverware in it too. I would guess one of my girls will keep hers in it too.
