For years my parents owned a large filing cabinet where all their papers were stored. Being rather cumbersome and ugly, it was stored just outside the back door. In the clearing out of my mother's house I had been putting off even opening the drawers and doing what I saw as a tedious job. My mother kept careful records of bank accounts, receipts, bills and instruction manuals.... nothing interesting.
As I started to pull out the years' worth of printed material, I came across a family tree dating back to 1720 and with my name at the very bottom. This is my mother's family and occupations next to the names included hand-loom weaver, packman, coal miner. My mother's birth certificate had my grandfather's profession as chemist and druggist. I also found a neatly handwritten recipe for 'Pomade Divine': a soothing and healing ointment he made and sold in his store. Liquid opium seems to be the magic ingredient!
There were several handwritten notes and letters that caught my eye amongst the glossy brochures and ads. This old game, "Sailor Bill Writes Home!', is a early form of mad libs from my mother's childhood. While I was able to take a quick picture with my phone, players in those days had to write out the whole message of this "most laughable game ever invented" on paper. I found many other handwritten letters, mainly written on old aerogram stationary for posting overseas. One caught my eye, written from Japan by my cousin, with condolences on the death of my aunt in 1977. Nearly 50 years later I was able to share this instantly with family.
This got me thinking about what my mother chose to save and file away in this old filing cabinet. Yes, there were important documents: old passports (pre/during/post EU); copies of birth and marriage certificates; death certificates; and tax documents. However, the more sentimental items seemed to be in the files simply because my mother couldn't bring herself to throw them away, and in this way left them for future generations to discover.
It brought a smile to my face to find all the cards from former students telling my mother how much they loved their teacher! Then there were the drawings made by her grandchildren, and all my A/O test results. Where my EAB diploma was in my possession, my mother kept the program of the school's "Tenth Annual Graduation". In an unmarked folder I found a brief diary of a family trip made by my younger brother when he was about 6 years old. This trip in southern Brazil included a lot of fishing and bird watching. My father created lists of birds for us to find, and my brother had made drawings of some.
My father featured heavily in the files. I did not find a family tree, but lots of information was collected and stored on his family. My grandfather, who I never met because he died at the age of 42, is described on the birth certificate as a physician and surgeon. However I found evidence that he had served in WW1 as a soldier in France; worked in a hospital in China where he met his wife, my grandmother; was later ordained and became a curate back in southern England. After his death, my father, age 11, attended a boarding school in Kent, and I have just read through all his school reports until he went off to Oxford at 18. Since this was a Cathedral Choir school, it seems the notes of his progress with piano and violoncello were most detailed. His last report read: " He has worked very hard this term & made himself a reasonable, though clumsy pianist. His general musicianship is good and music will be a lasting joy to him."
Several other curious finds involving my father were a published article written about Swalecliffe's birds 50 years ago, and a traffic violation for speeding on Highway 19, Minnesota. It took me a minute to realize that the date of the ticket was my wedding. I wonder if that ever got paid! Also, a handwritten copy of the preface of a 2009 Marshallese Bible, obviously research that my mother wanted to pass on to me. And a copy of a check friends and colleagues gave to finance a trip to my brother's college graduation in the US.
And so my life is richer for finding out these bits of information. I think my mother was thinking of making a scrap book to pass this on in a more organized way, but the file marked 'SCRAPBOOK' was empty. She must have just been too busy living.
Without knowing it, her filing away of these keepsakes, and giving me the chance to 'discover' them, ensured that they would not be forgotten or simply tossed away. Now, the question is: do I organize them into a book, or do I leave them somewhere to be found by future generations?
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