Lessons From The Curio Cabinet
As I step into voluntary chaos this day, I find a slow motion moment that will stay with me for years. This morning a friend came over to help me pack up some bookshelves and a curio cabinet in preparation for my floor being torn up tomorrow (yes, just one day before my surgery). As she carefully wrapped my many treasures to be put in safekeeping, I would talk to her about what made each item so special. An irony in this situation was that she was directly connected to three of the objects gently being packed away.
The glass shelves held figurines (some beautiful and some broken), 50 year-old Ukrainian Easter Eggs, rocks of varying shapes, feathers, a sand castle, a crocheted frog, and the list goes on. If a stranger were to look through those glass doors and try to figure out the person to whom this menagerie belonged, he would have endless questions and wonderment.
Fast forwarding through the day and into this evening. I had the great thrill and privilege of getting together with dozens of my closest friends. They held a dinner in my honor and shared stories and photos of our crazy times together. The evening was perfect. When I arrived home tonight I stepped through the door way and faced an empty curio cabinet off in the corner. As I looked into its barren shelves, I was saddened by the thought that someday it would all be just dust in the wind. Even if my treasures made it into another’s hands, they surely couldn’t understand the people who were a part of their magic. Each has its story and each has a connection to my heart.
Now, it’s not the objects themselves that I truly treasure, it’s more about the memory of a time spent with others. Those items are there just to remind me of those I have loved and who have loved me in return. There is no greater treasure then that. Tonight’s memories of so many loving friends wishing me well, as I head off to fight this cancer, will be added to my collection as I place a beautiful beaded feather band among my other treasures within the cabinet. So elegantly crafted with a cancer survivors pink ribbon below an eagle’s feather and simple words embossed at the bottom, ”With Love, The Trail Angels.”
If my wealth is measured by the love of family and friends, then I am rich beyond my wildest dreams.