We are the Gatherers.....

A friend sent this poem to me today....and it is my life. 

GATHERING 

by Nina Bagley

We are gatherers,

the ones who pick up sticks and stones and old wasp's nests fallen by the door of the barn,

walnuts with holes that look like eyes of owls,

bits of shells not whole but lovely in their brokeness,

we are the ones who bring home empty eggs of birds

and place them on a small glass shelf to keep for what? How long?

It matters not. What matters

Is the gathering,

the pockets filled with remnants of a day evaporated, the traces of certain memory, a lingering smell, a smile that came with the shell.

Glass and shells from Glass Beach in Mendocino Ca. that Hannah gathered for me probably 20 years ago when she was there with a friend and her mom. 

Heart shaped rocks and crystals given to me by friends, kids, grandkids, an unhoused friend gave me the enormous crystal...she had a pocketful and showed them to me and I commented that the big one looked like a dinosaur head. She said, "Here, you can keep it! I have lots. I find them all of the time!" It meant so much to me, her sharing her treasures. 

A walnut we cracked open that was shaped like a heart. 

Shells collected through the years by my children, my grandchildren, my brother, and my mom. 

The Stellar Jay's nests from the two years our shade umbrella became a birthing center. 

My little wooden cabinet where I save all of the heart shaped rocks my kids and I have found. 

I came from a family that moved a lot and saved nothing. I guess that is where this need to gather and save comes from....I want to hang onto these times and these memories. These little symbols of my life that has been filled with children and friends and so many people that I love. Don says I gather people too, and I suppose he is right. I love people. I love to hear their stories, and to walk with them through the portions of their lives that I am allowed to.

Someday I will be old (older than I am now) and the children will all be grown...and maybe then I will let these things go. But for now my grand kids love to look through them and hear the stories of where each item came from. I like to see them and know that they were handed off from them to me, from me to them, with so much love and care. 

Hang onto your treasures if they bring you joy. We can minimize our possessions by letting something else go. ❤️

Annette