A Treasure Trove

My husband always wanted a museum style display cabinet and several years ago we finally got one. It is actually an old science cabinet with glass on all sides except the base. It came out of one of the old schools in our city and he acquired it from a colleague he became friends with in exchange for a large drawing he did for them. They loved the cabinet but it was too long to fit in their house but it was perfect for our hallway.

We had legs made in stainless steel to turn it into a piece of furniture and over the years it has become my favourite item of furniture in the house. Personal. Unique. Full of history. A place to store our memories.

We've filled it over the years with a myriad of treasures from family pieces to pieces from our childhoods through to medals and souvenirs of our children's. I love stopping and looking at the things we have in there - each one for a a reason and each one a talisman for a memory of a time, a place or a person in our lives. I love to reflect on what these objects mean to us - different things for each of us and it makes me feel grateful.

There may be things in there that people think are odd - such as my long plait of hair cut of when I was only 12 - a symbolic event for me! The moulds of teeth taken at the dentist - capturing a slightly evil looking grin forever. Clippings of the children's hair when they were little. Coins, medals, spoons. A collection of everyday miscellany such as hat pins, sewing notions and tweezers. The latter all came from a shoe box of my husband's grandmothers that had been found among her things. We ended up with it and it always felt a bit like it was full of junk but it wasn't mine to throw away. Once we had the cabinet I was able to sort through it and realised that although there was nothing of value it was a treasure trove of memories of an ordinary life and was a valuable source of memories about a person in my husband's life.

I love the ordinariness of many of the things in this cabinet but they make up the story of our life and that makes it all worthwhile. I know for a fact that no-one will have a cabinet like ours with the treasures we have and I like that. Evidence of ordinary lives well lived and a place to stop and remember and be grateful for all we have.